World War I didn’t begin in Europe. It started in Africa.
By the time the shooting erupted in 1914, in fact, a retrospective analysis of the conditions that led to war had lent credence to the conclusion that a great clash was almost inevitable. Germany’s perceived “encirclement” and that resurgent nation’s belief that they had been unfairly cut off from their share of colonial possessions in Africa led Berlin to embrace bellicosity. Germany forcefully protested France’s subjugation of a Moroccan rebellion and subsequent occupation of that territory in 1911 — a territory that Germany coveted. Paris’s move prompted Italy to declare suzerainty over the state of Libya, leading to a war with the Ottomans for control of that North African nation. After the Turks had lost control of the North African coast, the race was on to divide the spoils of the Ottoman Empire’s Balkan possessions, culminating in the Balkan Wars of 1912 and 1913. By the onset of August Crisis in 1914, the world had already been at war for the better part of three years.
WNU Editor: I just do not see such a conflict happening .... especially not in a world where nuclear weapons are readily available. And while we are not revisiting the situation that existed during the Cold War, we are definitely living in dangerous times.
3 comments:
From Russia's perspective why should there be war either direct or through proxies with the US? Putin knows that at least for the short time he can advance anywhere and almost at will and the US will retreat long long before any shots are fired. All this Administration will do is either drive a destroyer around in the Black Sea, send a couple of companies of airborne to East Europe, a squadron of air somewhere to the East, do a lot of talking, and fold.
It's paint by the numbers.
Normally I'd agree with you... and I probably still will, but you have to admit, Syria is a lot worse than most of the things that happened up to now in terms of possibly causing a conflict. Still, I really don't think either Putin or anyone in the American establishment really wants it, so they'd do their best to keep away from the edge.
Daniel,
As you say Syria HAS brought a US/Russian conflict closer than anything before, I just have a feeling Putin is going to push for all it's worth until he feels there is a credible "no mas" from the US, whereupon he'll back down and look for somewhere else to push. The trick of course is knowing how to stop and sometimes it's awful hard to stop pushing and backing up.
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