Between 1911 and 1914, the conflicts between Italy and the Ottoman Empire, together with the Balkan wars that followed, transformed European politics. With contributions from leading, international historians, this volume offers a comprehensive account of the wars before the Great War and surveys the impact of these conflicts on European diplomacy, military planning, popular opinion and their role in undermining international stability in the years leading up to the outbreak of the First World War. Placing these conflicts at the centre of European history, the authors provide fresh insights on the origins of World War I, emphasizing the importance of developments on the European periphery in driving change across the continent. Nation and empire, great powers and small states, Christian and Muslim, violent and peaceful, civilized and barbaric - the book evaluates core issues which defined European politics to show how they were encapsulated in the wars before the Great War.

'Each chapter provides detailed footnotes and is very clearly organized and written (goals stated, assumptions outlined, and conclusions reached). Such clarity makes this book ideal for undergraduate history students … Highly recommended.'

Source: Choice

'These essays will prove valuable reading for the serious student of the Great War and European military and diplomatic institutions in the early twentieth century.'

Source: NYMAS Review

'… the range of historical scholarship, presented with a consistence of clarity and quality rarely seen in edited volumes of this length, distinguishes The Wars before the Great War as essential reading for anybody wishing to cultivate a more comprehensive understating of the origins of the First World War.'

Samuel Foster Source: European History Quarterly