The Causes of War

From 1700 to today

By: Geoffrey Blainey

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Hardcover | 29 July 2025

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Hardcover

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23.4 x 15.3

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Australia’s most famous historian on a freshly essential subject; a classic work updated for our times.

The Causes of War is one of Geoffrey Blainey’s most influential books, carried in corridors of power around the world.

Covering international wars from 1700 – and now updated to include Ukraine and Gaza - Blainey demolishes many widely-held theories of why nations fight, arguing that peace is not the ‘natural’ state of international relations and war is not an aberration. Both are best understood as means of advancing national interests: when one is failing, the other becomes more likely, and therefore we need to understand what causes ‘the mystery of peace’ as urgently as we understand what causes war.

Trenchantly argued and beautifully written, this bracing, clear-eyed survey is an essential guide to understanding our current fraught moment, seeing beyond the daily news cycle to deeper truths about the way the modern world works.

About the Author

Geoffrey Blainey is one of Australia’s best-known authors. Since 1968, he has been successively Professor of Economic History and Ernest Scott Professor of History at the University of Melbourne. In 1982–3, he was Professor of Australian Studies at Harvard University.

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