Reception of “Тhe Sleepwalkers: How Europe went to War in 1914” by Christopher Clark

Abstract

The paper presents one part of the arguments relating to the reception of the conclusions of Christopher Clark on the causes of World War I, which was presented in his study The Sleepwalkers: How Europe went to war in 1914. We used the comparative method as the most optimal for this kind of research. This method was used in relation to the concepts that the authors used most in their observations on the range and value of Clark's conclusions. Three concepts through which various interpretations of Clark's work could be generated were highlighted, with a particular emphasis on his methodological choice to move the research towards emphasis on how something happened. Through these four significant places that appear in the references of various authors, the reception of his work as a whole is presented. The quality of argumentation that is expressed in binary relation pro and contra can guide us to the different levels on which the reception is based. Thus, the quality of such an argument, its volume and methodological approach can suggest a more balanced picture of the value of this study.