Donald Kagan- On The Origins of War and The Preservation of Peace Ch. 2

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The Extent to Which World War I Could be Avoided

Kagan argued that it is possible for the First World War to be avoided The general reason can be found on the arbitrariness of the alliances created before the First World War . It can also be argued that the complexity of the alliances were , in fact , slump in its orientation Countries of both camps held suspicious views of each other , and thus unsupportive at times . The implication : it is possible for diplomacy to succeed

in mitigating the war itself

The probability , though , that war seemed imminent was not appreciated by many people during that time . Ministers of the British Government often remarked that a peace settlement could be reached if Germany withdrew intentions to invade the Neutral countries . The Russian monarchy also held such view . If Germany withdrew rom the alliances there was a chance that the war between the Austrian Empire and the state of Serbia might not erupt into a global conflict

For a layman , it is always right to assume that the ultimate cause of any war is the immediate cause itself . Take , for instance , the First World War . Many students would argue that the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand was the immediate cause of the war . They failed to realize the complexities of the event complexities that can only be discovered by a thorough examination of facts

There is also another problem in analyzing historical facts . The emphasis on cause and...