The sleepwalkers how europe went to war in 1914 is historian christopher clarks 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 and relationships that led a group of well meaning leaders into brutal conflict. The title the sleepwalkers says it all i have never understood why the great powers of europe went to war in 1914 and after reading this it is clear that they did not know either this book is about how it happened in a huge narrative on all the contributing players from the tubercular assassin of archduke ferdinand to the ineffectual tsar in russia and the erratic kaiser wilhelm of germany to struggling bureaucrats in the french and british foreign ministries it is agonizingly . The sleepwalkers how europe went to war in 1914 christopher clark no preview available 2014 view all about the author 2012 christopher clark is professor of modern history at the university of cambridge and a fellow of st catharines college he is the author of the politics of conversion kaiser wilhelm ii and iron kingdom widely praised around the world iron kingdom became a major