Unforeseen Warfare

Abstract

As the nineteenth century in Europe drew to its close, man had every reason to be optimistic. In the years between 1815 and 1914 Europe had witnessed great advances in science, technology, economics, education, culture, exploration, and social welfare. Man, it seemed, was coming to control his own destiny. But on the eve of 1914, an air of all-pervasive optimism did not exist, for Europe was divided into rival alliance systems. The discontent of these rival blocs manifested itself in an unprecedented arms race and a series of international crises, which were spurred on further by the excessive nationalistic passion of the individual states.