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.