Professor Clark and a lady announcing his lecture |
Had all those people come to listen to what you read in many reviews of Clark's book: Germany was not to bear the blame for the outbreak of the Great War? It is impressive; more than 250 000 copies of the history book of nearly 1000 pages have already been sold in the German edition, not counting the upcoming holiday season. Two months ago, another known specialist, Professor Gerd Krumeich, teaching in Freiburg, remarked at the end of his lecture about the Great War somewhat jealously: How can anyone read such a book? Read mine; it is shorter (Juli 1914. Eine Bilanz, 362 pages).
There is a difference in opinion between the two historians about the war. A nuance is that Clark thinks all the actors in 1914 are guilty, whereas Krumeich states that Germany takes the Lion's share. In his lecture, however, Clark made it clear that the Schuldfrage (question of guilt) is not the main objective of his book. The question concerned him was how the European countries slipped into the Urkatastrophe (seminal catastrophe). The Great War destroyed four empires (Germany, Austria-Hungary, Russia, and the Ottoman Empire) and cost the lives of ten million young men.
September 2014: Gerd Krumeich (right) and Christopher Clark (left) discuss in the presence of a "moderator" at the German Historians Day in Göttingen (©Ziko/Wikipedia) |
Clark said structural deficiencies in the decision-making reminded him of Heisenberg's Unschärferelation. Is the uncertainty principle now valid in history?
This was a Steilvorlage (hand on the plate) for Red Baron. In the discussion, I said that in physics, the Heisenberg uncertainty principle meant that if you fix one parameter of an object, e.g., its speed, then its location is known only with uncertainty. I asked the historian whether he could clarify his statement.
This was a Steilvorlage (hand on the plate) for Red Baron. In the discussion, I said that in physics, the Heisenberg uncertainty principle meant that if you fix one parameter of an object, e.g., its speed, then its location is known only with uncertainty. I asked the historian whether he could clarify his statement.
He answered what he meant was that when you approached a government official for a decision in those days, he (women regrettably were no decision-makers in those days) would shrink back, i.e., taking no fixed position. Clark admitted: I have to work on the uncertainty metaphor.
Reading Clark's book is "heavy," although Red Baron bought The Sleepwalkers as an e-book. Having read only four-fifths of it so far, I promise to come back to it.
Reading Clark's book is "heavy," although Red Baron bought The Sleepwalkers as an e-book. Having read only four-fifths of it so far, I promise to come back to it.
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Dear Manfred,
ReplyDeleteI have read Prof. Clark's book (in English) and find it illuminating and compelling--also worth finishing. But I do not have a deep background in other WWI literature, so my opinion weighs less for that. I am about to read Alexander Watson's Ring of Steel: Germany and Austria-Hungary in World War I, so I will have some more context after that. (The latter is even thicker than Clark's book--you should definitely get it as an ebook!) -jim lattis