Introduction: Europe in the 19th Century: From Cooperation to Competition

World War I – Causes and Origins, 1815-1914

In this course, Dr Sascha Auerbach (University of Nottingham) explores the causes and origins of the First World War. The course begins with a broad overview of Europe in the nineteenth century, as Europe moved from co-operation in the first half of the century to competition in the second. In the second and third modules, we look at the domestic politics of the major European powers—the socio-political changes that contributed to the outbreak of war in 1914—before moving on to consider the longer- and shorter-term causes of the war itself, from the rise of nationalism to 'the shot heard round the world'—the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria.

Introduction: Europe in the 19th Century: From Cooperation to Competition

In this module, we think about what Europe looked like in the decades preceding the First World War, focusing in particular on the changes to society, culture and the economy from the 1850s onwards, as well as the various conflicts that broke out in this period—including the Crimean War (1853-56) and the Franco-Prussian War (1870-71)