Ring of Fire: A New Global History of the Outbreak of the First World War offers a new understanding of the war's origins, focusing on the experiences of average citizens. Historians Alexandra Churchill and Nicolai Eberholst diverge from traditional narratives that center on political elites, instead exploring the impacts on soldiers, students, and urban workers. The book also broadens the geographic scope, analyzing the global consequences of the war and its roles in shaping relationships between European powers and their colonies, contributing to post-war decolonization movements.
Whereas scholarship - including Barbara Tuchman's 1963 Pulitzer Prize-winner The Guns of August - has often treated the war like a real-life Game of Thrones, Eberholst and Churchill largely operate outside the corridors of power.
Ring of Fire also stands apart in its geographic scope. Much of what has been written about the war focuses on Europe, especially the Western Front.
Eberholst and Churchill instead pull their camera back to view the conflict on a global scale. From South America to West Africa, they examine how military and financial needs of the European powers changed the relationships between them and their colonies.
Though increasingly obscured as its distance from the present moment grows, the First World War is as deserving of our attention as ever.
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