Volume LII Number 451
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History
Bungling Into Catastrophe
This month marks both the ninetieth anniversary of the Armistice that ended the First World War, and the virtual passing of the “Great War” from living memory.
How on earth could such a manmade disaster happen? A look at the events of mid-1914 shows that democracy really does seem more peaceable than autocracy. If more countries had had democratic governments answerable to the people, there almost certainly would have been no war. Though it was a luxury few could contemplate ninety years ago, with the terrible sadness of the 10 million war dead, there has been fairly general agreement since that the war was simply a mistake, a calamity caused by relatively minor issues.
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