First World War Debate: A Recap

A few weeks ago a conversation began on twitter about Christopher Clark’s scholarly, highly original and somewhat controversial account of the origins of the First World War, The Sleepwalkers. Gary Sheffield, Simon Schama, Tom Holland and a number of other historians offered their thoughts on the book, asked questions about the outbreak of the conflict and suggested new avenues of inquiry.

Matthew Shaw, a curator at the British Library, came in on the conversation and suggested that we carry on the debate at the BL and a date was fixed for January 17th. History Today and the curators at the British Library tweeted the details of the event – there wasn’t enough time to print any publicity material – and last night 300 people ( sell-out audience) turned up to listen to Gary Sheffield, along with other historians of the Great War – Annika Mombauer, Dan Todman and Neil Faulkner – discuss its origins, its course and its legacy.