Was the First World war inevitable or was it possible to avoid it or at least contain it as a European war? Some interesting debates being had on this subject, Max Hastings holding the more traditional view that German expansionism and empire building was to blame, Niall Ferguson contending it was Britain that turned a European war into a world war through mismanagement and fear. I agree with Ferguson that all the powers operated from a point of weakness not strength but also concede that war with Germany was inevitable at some point, there were points when war might of been avoided, but only postponed. The fidgeting for power between France, who we must not forget spent more money on armaments and had a conscripted army and Russia still smarting from its defeat at the hands of Japan and Germany with the Kaiser eying enviously the British Empire and navy, could only end in conflict at some point. The question is had it been kept to a purely European war that Germany in all likelihood would have won, what then. A Germany that had defeated France and then Russia may not have been an altogether bad thing, it was the most socially enlightened country at the time, a socialist parliament, welfare and pensions, cultured and admired for its culture. However once on a war footing what would Germany have demanded, what would its European victory mean to Britain and how long before that position led to conflict and defeat for Britain. There would have been no Hitler, there would in all probability have still been a Russian Revolution, would that revolution have spread Europe wide, leading to the full communisation of Europe in the course of the century and then to conflict with America and Britain at a later date, Its very hard to determine.
Posted on: Sun, 16 Mar 2014 12:28:30 +0000
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