The Course of the War
The Way into War
On the threshold of the 20th century, everlasting freedom seemed to be an attainable goal, if only one could “muster the efforts of all states.”1 It was Russian Tsar Nicholas II who invited all the then-independent states of Europe, plus the United States and Japan, to an international conference in August 1898. He named two motives for a turnabout in international politics. The alliances secured two decades previously “have so far developed their military strength to an unknown extent, an…