---
product_id: 191025893
title: "1913: The Eve of War"
price: "€ 5.27"
currency: EUR
in_stock: false
reviews_count: 8
url: https://www.desertcart.hr/products/191025893-1913-the-eve-of-war
store_origin: HR
region: Croatia
---

# Concise, time-efficient read Audio version available for on-the-go learning 80+ pages of sharp historical insight 1913: The Eve of War

**Price:** € 5.27
**Availability:** ❌ Out of Stock

## Summary

> 📖 Unlock the secrets of 1913 before history repeats itself!

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- **What is this?** 1913: The Eve of War
- **How much does it cost?** € 5.27 with free shipping
- **Is it available?** Currently out of stock
- **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.hr](https://www.desertcart.hr/products/191025893-1913-the-eve-of-war)

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## Why This Product

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## Key Features

- • **Time-Smart Reading:** Perfectly paced at 80+ pages—ideal for busy professionals craving depth without the fluff.
- • **Expertly Researched:** Paul Ham dismantles myths and challenges established narratives with razor-sharp scholarship.
- • **Screen Reader Friendly:** Inclusive design ensures accessibility for all readers, enhancing your seamless digital experience.
- • **Sharp Historical Clarity:** Cut through the noise with a concise, provocative analysis of 1913's geopolitical tensions.
- • **Gateway to Deeper Knowledge:** A compelling primer that sparks curiosity and invites further exploration into WWI origins.

## Overview

1913: The Eve of War by Paul Ham is a concise, expertly researched e-book that challenges conventional views on the causes of World War I. At just over 80 pages, it offers a sharp, provocative narrative accessible via screen readers and complemented by an audio version, making it a perfect, time-efficient read for professionals eager to understand the complex prelude to global conflict.

## Description

Screen Reading Supported

Review: New Year's Eve 1913. The world on the eve of disaster. - This cracking little book, by the historian Paul Ham, looks at one of the most complex subjects in history, the causes of the First World War. Short, sharp and provocative I found it to be an especially interesting and timely read during the final days of 2013, a century on from the events it considers. Ham has little time for those, like Christopher Clark, who argue that Europe's leaders were Sleepwalkers who drifted into war by accident and describes the idea that the First World War was some kind of careless mistake as "nonsense". Nor does he particularly agree with the likes of Max Hastings that the Catastrophe of the Great War was a necessary reaction to the proto-fascist aggression of the Kaiser's Germany. Rather, Ham believes that the Great Powers planned for the war for years and years beforehand and that their plans were so precise and so detailed that they became, in effect, self-fulfilling prophecies. By the time the carnage was unleashed the politicians and generals were caught up in events they could no longer control as years of pent-up rivalry and mistrust were unleashed. As a concise re-examination of the origins of the First World War, I doubt this book could be bettered. In fact, as a short introduction to the subject [it runs to the equivalent of 80-odd printed pages] I'd even recommend it over Niall Feguson's 1914 : Why the World Went to War , despite the fact that Ham actually quotes from Ferguson's The Pity of War , from which that book is extracted, throughout this essay. I also hope to read more from Ham soon as it appears this Kindle Single is actually just a prologue to his forthcoming, full-size work on the outbreak of World War One which is available now on audio download and released in May next year in hardback and on Kindle: 1914: The Year The World Ended .
Review: 1913 The Eve of War by Paul Ham - A very concise yet well written view of the year before the Great War started. As an easily readable overview of the conditions, thoughts, factors and events that came before the war this is a very good book indeed. It has pace and clarity and succeeds in communicating key themes and stimulating further more detailed reading for those who now want to go into more depth on the causes of the Great War. Historians are still debating those causes and this is an excellent hook upon which to continue that debate

## Features

- Screen Reading Supported

## Technical Specifications

| Specification | Value |
|---------------|-------|
| Best Sellers Rank | 522,411 in Kindle Store ( See Top 100 in Kindle Store ) 3,993 in Military History (Kindle Store) 63,130 in History (Books) 155,979 in Whispersync for Voice |

## Images

![1913: The Eve of War - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/812zFzJvB5L.jpg)

## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ New Year's Eve 1913. The world on the eve of disaster.
*by L***Y on 31 December 2013*

This cracking little book, by the historian Paul Ham, looks at one of the most complex subjects in history, the causes of the First World War. Short, sharp and provocative I found it to be an especially interesting and timely read during the final days of 2013, a century on from the events it considers. Ham has little time for those, like Christopher Clark, who argue that Europe's leaders were Sleepwalkers who drifted into war by accident and describes the idea that the First World War was some kind of careless mistake as "nonsense". Nor does he particularly agree with the likes of Max Hastings that the Catastrophe of the Great War was a necessary reaction to the proto-fascist aggression of the Kaiser's Germany. Rather, Ham believes that the Great Powers planned for the war for years and years beforehand and that their plans were so precise and so detailed that they became, in effect, self-fulfilling prophecies. By the time the carnage was unleashed the politicians and generals were caught up in events they could no longer control as years of pent-up rivalry and mistrust were unleashed. As a concise re-examination of the origins of the First World War, I doubt this book could be bettered. In fact, as a short introduction to the subject [it runs to the equivalent of 80-odd printed pages] I'd even recommend it over Niall Feguson's 1914 : Why the World Went to War , despite the fact that Ham actually quotes from Ferguson's The Pity of War , from which that book is extracted, throughout this essay. I also hope to read more from Ham soon as it appears this Kindle Single is actually just a prologue to his forthcoming, full-size work on the outbreak of World War One which is available now on audio download and released in May next year in hardback and on Kindle: 1914: The Year The World Ended .

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 1913 The Eve of War by Paul Ham
*by M***E on 31 August 2014*

A very concise yet well written view of the year before the Great War started. As an easily readable overview of the conditions, thoughts, factors and events that came before the war this is a very good book indeed. It has pace and clarity and succeeds in communicating key themes and stimulating further more detailed reading for those who now want to go into more depth on the causes of the Great War. Historians are still debating those causes and this is an excellent hook upon which to continue that debate

### ⭐⭐⭐ A good starter pack.
*by E***N on 24 February 2014*

This essay would make a good starting point for someone curious about the causes of the First World War. It sets out to challenge what it sees as the traditional view that the 'Great Powers' stumbled into the conflict. Ham's basic argument is that well before 1914 senior politicians in Germany, Austria-Hungary, Russia, France and to a lesser degree Britain saw a major European war as inevitable and in some cases desirable. Military leaders are portrayed as hoping, sometimes craving for war whilst war planning took place on a colossal scale, was immensely detailed and hugely resourced: The mainland European powers all had standing armies of hundreds of thousands of men with conscription embedded in society. All had 'mobilization' plans designed to get their armies to their borders in rapid time. Set against this Ham states (rather than argues) that the general populations lived in splendid ignorance of the inevitability of war that their politicians saw so clearly. Ham's essay has pace, holds the attention and provides much food for thought yet seems rushed and over anxious to make it's point . It supports its main thesis with telling quotations from many of the key players but at other times sweeps through important statements without describing the supporting evidence. It's biggest defect in this regard is the lack of evidence or argument, although there is some description in the first chapter, to support his view that the general populations were ignorant of the planning and desire for war. There is no analysis of how he thinks this came to be in spite of, for example, the pervasiveness of conscription across Europe, the knowledge and at times almost hysterical support for the Dreadnought arms race in Britain and Germany (and for that matter Turkey where the money for two Dreadnoughts was in part raised by public subscription). In Britain a popular cry went up, 'We want eight (more Dreadnoughts) and we won't wait!'. A strength is the section on 'mobilization' which gives a good understanding of what this entailed including its huge scale, the years of planning which it required, why it was so important and why once started hostilities were virtually inevitable. As an example of the preparations politicians and military leaders made years before the outbreak of war Ham refers to the minute detail involved in the development of railway mobilization timetables designed to deliver huge numbers of troops to the border quickly and in good order. He might too have mentioned the small border villages which boasted railway stations with platforms half a mile long. The essay is worth the read and excellent value but I would treat it as a starter which opens up the subject rather than a definitive analysis of it. Perhaps it needs a full book to do that.

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*Product available on Desertcart Croatia*
*Store origin: HR*
*Last updated: 2026-03-24*