The Causes Of War
Condition: SECONDHAND
This is a secondhand book. The jacket image is a photograph of the exact copy we have in stock. This image shows the condition of this book. Further condition remarks are below.
Edition: First ed.
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: Chipped and worn with some minor damage
Pages: Good
Condition remarks: small tear on front of jacket - otherwise fine.
What drives nations to abandon diplomacy and embrace the catastrophic machinery of war? Geoffrey Blainey's The Causes of War is a landmark work of historical and strategic analysis that systematically dismantles romantic and simplistic explanations for armed conflict, arguing instead that war is a rational — if tragic — outcome of miscalculation, shifting power balances, and the eternal optimism of combatants who each believe victory is within reach. Drawing on centuries of international conflict, Blainey presents a sweeping yet rigorous examination of the conditions under which peace collapses, tracing patterns across European wars, colonial conflicts, and global conflagrations with the precision of a scholar and the narrative drive of a natural storyteller. As Professor of Economic History at the University of Melbourne, Blainey brings a distinctly analytical lens to questions that have long preoccupied philosophers and statesmen alike, challenging the reader to reconsider received wisdom about the origins of violence between nations. His central thesis — that wars begin when nations disagree about their relative strength — is as elegant as it is unsettling, reframing conflict not as a failure of morality but as a failure of information. The Causes of War remains essential reading for anyone seeking to understand not just the history of human conflict, but the cold logic that continues to make it possible.
Author: Geoffrey Blainey
Format: Hardback
Published: 1973, Macmillan
Genre: Military history
Edition: First ed.
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: Chipped and worn with some minor damage
Pages: Good
Condition remarks: small tear on front of jacket - otherwise fine.
What drives nations to abandon diplomacy and embrace the catastrophic machinery of war? Geoffrey Blainey's The Causes of War is a landmark work of historical and strategic analysis that systematically dismantles romantic and simplistic explanations for armed conflict, arguing instead that war is a rational — if tragic — outcome of miscalculation, shifting power balances, and the eternal optimism of combatants who each believe victory is within reach. Drawing on centuries of international conflict, Blainey presents a sweeping yet rigorous examination of the conditions under which peace collapses, tracing patterns across European wars, colonial conflicts, and global conflagrations with the precision of a scholar and the narrative drive of a natural storyteller. As Professor of Economic History at the University of Melbourne, Blainey brings a distinctly analytical lens to questions that have long preoccupied philosophers and statesmen alike, challenging the reader to reconsider received wisdom about the origins of violence between nations. His central thesis — that wars begin when nations disagree about their relative strength — is as elegant as it is unsettling, reframing conflict not as a failure of morality but as a failure of information. The Causes of War remains essential reading for anyone seeking to understand not just the history of human conflict, but the cold logic that continues to make it possible.