The Sleepwalkers

“A monumental new volume. . . . Revelatory, even revolutionary. . . . Clark has done a masterful job explaining the inexplicable.” — Boston Globe

One of The New York Times Book Review’s 10 Best Books of the Year • Winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize (History)

Historian Christopher Clark’s riveting account of the explosive beginnings of World War I.

Drawing on new scholarship, Clark offers a fresh look at World War I, focusing not on the battles and atrocities of the war itself, but on the complex events, diplomatic history, and relationships that led a group of well-meaning leaders into brutal conflict.

Clark traces the paths to war in a minute-by-minute, action-packed narrative that cuts between the key decision centers in Vienna, Berlin, St. Petersburg, Paris, London, and Belgrade, and examines the decades of history that informed the events of 1914 and details the mutual misunderstandings and unintended signals that drove the July Crisis forward in a few short weeks.

Meticulously researched and masterfully written, The Sleepwalkers is a dramatic and authoritative chronicle of the causes of WWI and Europe’s descent into a war that tore the world apart.

Christopher Clark’s definitive account untangles the intricate web of events that plunged a continent into chaos.

A Balkan Powder Keg: A deep dive into the complex politics of the Balkans, focusing on the role of Serbian nationalism and the events in Belgrade and Sarajevo that directly triggered the conflict. The Tangle of Alliances: A minute-by-minute narrative that cuts between the key decision centers in Vienna, Berlin, St. Petersburg, Paris, and London to reveal the misunderstandings and miscalculations that doomed the continent. Diplomatic Failures: An analysis of the complex relationships and unintended signals between leaders that transformed a local crisis into a continent-spanning catastrophe. The Path to War: Rather than focusing on the battles, Clark examines the decades of history that informed the events of 1914, providing a fresh and authoritative chronicle of Europe’s descent into war.