Nations and world wars
The First World War was not, as is frequently portrayed, a war that cannot be understood, its origins indiscernible in an incomprehensibly complex web of political events, a shapeless fog of causes and roots. This can then develop in two directions: (1) an inexplicable disaster (2) a disaster of which nationalisms constitute the necessary and sufficient cause. It is, in fact, a relatively easy war to explain the origins of. In its immediate cause, from the British viewpoint, it was a defensive response to the German invasion of Belgium. From a more international viewpoint, the immediate cause was the Germano-Austro-Hungarian invasion of various neighbours in extremely disproportionate retaliation for an assassination. To these explanations, which are not difficult to grasp, a more fundamental one should be added. Factors that influenced the German and Austrian outlook included fear of an increasingly powerful Russia, but the pointless preservation of the Austro-Hungarian Empire wa