I am currently preparing for my A-Level History coursework and will be writing about the causes of WW1. Problem is, one of my factors, Austria-Hungary, is almost always written about within the context of Germany influencing their actions. Does anyone know of any historians who have blamed Austria-Hungary for the start of WW1?
Greetings! This is certainly an interesting question, and it reveals quite a fair bit about the current state of historiography on the First World War's origins. In recent decades, there has been a noticeable shift in the focus of research and writing towards the Balkan affairs as the main cause of the First World War, and Austria-Hungary features prominently here as the main "Great Power" with concerns (and therefore bellicose desires) in the region.
However, books which deal exclusively with Austria-Hungary and squarely pin the blame on the Habsburg monarchy for starting the First World War are not particularly common (as no doubt you have already begun to suspect). As it stands, writing such works come with their own difficulties, because to suggest that a country started the First World War requires an excessive amount of evidence and argumentation to support that claim. Indeed, the shift towards the Balkans has been accompanied with another shift towards supranational analyses of the events leading up to July 1914. This is, as Alan Kramer remarks, the sine non qua (essential condition) which has emerged since around the 1980s in the academic writings.
That being said, one historian who does stand out with regards to Austria-Hungary (at least in terms of English language writings) is Samuel R. Williamson Jr. Williamson's most well-known work in this regard is his book Austria-Hungary and Origins of the First World War (1991), in which he surveys the country's policy with Balkan affairs both prior to and during the July Crisis, as well as analyzing the key decisions made by its government which contributed to the "seminal tragedy" of the Great War. Feel free to pm me for further information about this resource.
I would also recommend taking a look at Christopher Clark's recent monograph, The Sleepwalkers: How Europe Went to War in 1914 (2012), which admittedly shies away from the heavier accusations of guilt and responsibility - but nonetheless provides crucial contextual information regarding Austria-Hungary's evolving policy towards Serbia, the Balkans, and Germany in the leadup to the catastrophe of 1914. In particular, the chapters bullet-pointed below should be read as they pertain mostly to your topic:
Finally, as regards another secondary source on the matter, Williamson has collaborated with Austrian-American historian Gunther Bischof and German historian Ferdinand Karlhofer on this collection of essays regarding the Austro-Hungarian involvement in the First World War (2014). It is open access on JSTOR, so you should be able to view it without having to pay, and I would immediately draw your attention towards the first section, "Austria-Hungary and the Origins of World War I", where Williamson himself gives a good historical overview of the historiography of those works which "blame" (to various extents) Austria-Hungary for the conflict. Most of them are in German however, so that would also explain the lack of modern English-language ones on the matter.
Hope this helps, and feel free to ask any follow-ups or pm me for further reading recommendations on the Origins of World War I as you see fit.
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