El atípico verano de 1914viejas decisiones en las trincheras del siglo XXI

Abstract

The centennial of the outbreak of the First World War is a good occasion to reflect on the role of the researcher. Once the witnesses of the struggle disappeared, the war’s image can only be transmitted through historical studies which seek to understand its beginning and development. However, after the countless contributions made by a wide array of authors, there is still no unanimous assessment on two key questions: Why did the war start at that precise moment? What reasons or actions unleashed it? This article aims to reexamine the events of the summer of 1914, using both primary sources and different interpretations advanced up to this date. While it does not pretend to shed much new light on an academic debate that has been going on for twenty years, it summarizes the main arguments in a new and illuminating way, highlighting a series of close ties between the international system, the role of different states and the influence of structural factors.