Gambling on War: Confidence, Fear, and the Tragedy of the First World War

ISBN-13: 9781108454353 / Angielski / Miękka / 2018 / 346 str.

Roger L. Ransom

Opis

Discusses the irrational, risk-taking decisions of overconfident leaders which led to a seminal turning point in world history that shaped the twentieth century.

Recenzje

'The great strength of the book is the application of behavioral economic theories to decision-making in the First World War. It offers a variation on the argument that the war swept away the restrained political mores of the late nineteenth century. Once one power 'speculated' by initiating aggression, others had to react, and this changed expectations of future behavior, creating a path dependency toward the Second World War.' William Mulligan, H-Diplo

Spis treści

Prologue; 1. Confidence, fear, and a propensity to gamble; 2. Otto von Bismarck and the changing paradigm of war; 3. Schlieffen's gamble; 4. A war of attrition; 5. Economies at war; 6. War and revolution; 7. The last gamble; 8. The chaos of victory; Epilogue: the tragedy of a world war.