Stealing Horses to Great Applause: The Origins of the First World War Reconsidered

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Paul W. Schroeder Perry Anderson

Stealing Horses to Great Applause

The Origins of the First World War Reconsidered

Paul W. Schroeder, Perry Anderson

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English

Verso
03 June 2025

Literary essays; History; 20th century history: c 1900 to c 2000; First World War; International relations

Stealing Horses presents arguably the finest considerations yet of the origins of the First World War. Breaking with accounts which focus on the actions of a single state or the final countdown to hostilities, Paul W. Schroeder describes the systemic crisis engulfing the Great Powers. They were more interested in colonial plunder overseas ('stealing horses to great applause', in the old Spanish adage) than the traditional statecraft of European peace-making. Preserving the balance of power required preserving all the essential actors in it, including a tottering Austria-Hungary. This the British in particular failed to recognise. The Central Powers may have started the War but that does not mean they in any real sense caused it. In the end Schroeder recalls the verdict of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet: 'All are punished'.

Stealing Horses includes appraisals of Niall Ferguson and A. J. P. Taylor, and an extensive unpublished final paper re-thinking the First World War as 'the last 18th-century war'.

With an Introduction by Perry Anderson.

By: Paul W. Schroeder
Introduction by: Perry Anderson
Imprint: Verso
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Edition: Paperback original
Dimensions: Height: 234mm, Width: 153mm, Spine: 27mm
Weight: 449g
ISBN: 9781804295793
ISBN 10: 1804295795
Pages: 384
Publication Date: 03 June 2025
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Paul W. Schroeder was professor of history and political science at the University of Illinois. His works included Austria, Great Britain and the Crimean War: The Destruction of the European Concert and The Transformation of European Politics, 1763-1848. He died in 2020 at the age of 93. Verso is publishing two volumes of his writings, America Abroad and Stealing Horses to Great Applause.

Reviews for Stealing Horses to Great Applause: The Origins of the First World War Reconsidered

He has made as good a case as has been made in recent years for treating international history as an important discipline in its own right * Times Literary Supplement * Probably the foremost expert on the history of international politics in the world -- Lothar Höbelt * International History Review * A powerful intellect, a meticulous and innovative researcher who transformed his field -- Katherine Aaslestad * Perspectives on History, the news magazine of the American Historical Association * Perhaps the most distinguished diplomatic historian of his generation -- Marc Trachtenberg * H-Diplo *