An absorbing book, providing a deep insight into what really causes, or leads to, armed interactions among countries and peoples. The chapters on the two world wars are especially absorbing. I, for one, got fresh insights into the role of individual leaders and statesmen like Bismarck, who balanced the European west and the east tirelessly and kept them from going to war. After his retirement, however, the bellicose factions gained ascendancy and took Europe into a devastating war. By drawing on the early examples of Sparta-Athens divisions in ancient Greece and the Rome-Carthage wars a little later, the author repeatedly makes the point that it is not only greed for plunder or land that leads to war between nations, but also, perhaps more usually, feelings of not being respected or given a just deal. Wars often become inevitable because of national pride and remembered or resurrected instances of humiliation or betrayal. His chapter on the Cuban missile crisis does not appear to me to be on par with the other examples, as he seems to be oscillating toward and away from a hawkish stance, and seems to be accusing John Kennedy of projecting a weak and pusillanimous character to the rough and bumptious Kruschev. On the whole, however, this author's analysis and insights into war and peace should surely improve our understanding of the current crises as well. ( )

Read pages 285-307 during WWI portion of S&W at CNCS in Sept 2023.

From the syllabus: He also describes the end of the war and the problems of establishing a stable peace.
Key quotes: “The eventual superiority of sixty-five million Germans with greater natural resources over thirty-nine million Frenchmen with a lower birthrate was not checked by the Versailles Treaty.” P295
“The tragedy of the Treaty of Versailles was that it was neither conciliatory enough to remove the desire for change, even at the cost of war, nor harsh enough to make another war impossible.” P297

I started this book because I read another book by Kagan and liked it. I am amazed by the context between the Greek wars and WWI and WWII. It is very interesting and reminds me of A.J. P. Taylors Origins of the Second World War. ( )