The Politics of the First World War

 

By Scott Wolford 

Cambridge University Press, 2019

The Great War is an immense, confusing, and overwhelming historical conflict—the ideal case study for teaching game theory and international security.

Each chapter shows. . .how game-theoretical models can explain otherwise challenging strategic puzzles, shedding light on the role of individual leaders in world politics, cooperation between coalition partners, the effectiveness of international law, the termination of conflict, and the challenges of making peace. Its analytical history of the First World War also surveys cutting-edge political science research on international relations and the causes of war.

In his preface, the author describes his approach:

The book’s historical scope begins with prewar tensions and conflicts between the great powers, including the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905, the Anglo-German naval race of 1906–1912, and several prewar crises from Morocco to the Balkans that saw the great powers step back from the brink of general war. It then continues through the outbreak and expansion of the war, the politics of military strategy and wartime diplomacy, and the network of peace treaties that legally, if not de facto, brought the war to an end by the early 1920s. Along the way, I use examples from the Chinese Civil War, the Korean War, the American-led wars against Iraq of the 1990s and 2000s, 1999’s Kosovo War, the outbreak of the Second World War in the Pacific, and the contemporary balance of power supported by the United Nations and the American alliance network. Given the setting, the cast of characters is far from diverse. The critical decisions are made by men, often wealthy, generally European or Asian, in the name and at the expense of women and minorities in their own countries and subject peoples in their imperial domains, many of whom are drawn eventually into the war effort. 

Contents

Purchase HERE

Scott Wolford is Associate Professor at The University of Texas at Austin. He published his first book, The Politics of Military Coalitions, in 2015.

Summary Provided by the Publisher