July 2014, Year VI, n. 7
Gian Enrico Rusconi
July 1914: before it’s too late…
Telos: One hundred years after the outbreak of the First World War we’re still discussing what triggered it. To what extent can we unilaterally attribute the reason for the war to an individual country, or instead talk of miscalculation by all the players in the field?
Gian Enrico Rusconi: I would share the second hypothesis, but each government is responsible to a different extent. Modern historiography falls over itself to talk of an “absurd war” or “the most complex event in contemporary history”, one which is extremely difficult to make head or tail of. In fact, historiography readily uses dark irrational tones to describe it. But actually we can learn more by objectively examining the processes and chain of crucial events which led the ruling classes in Europe ... more
Editorial
The memory of the Great War still creates a divide. And that’s not all: even one hundred years later, the events in July 2014 remain a historiographical problem for scholars. Talking about the outbreak of WW1 with Gian Enrico Rusconi was not only a privilege and honour for us at Telos, it was a unique opportunity to review some of the issues and try to find our way among so many possible interpretations ... more
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