Mark;

There were so many wars in Europe around 1848! What many agree upon is that the cause of World War I (“The Great War” or “The War to End All Wars”), was the Franco-Prussian War of 1870. France wanted revenge and the various European nations respective generals and field marshals published books on the subject for public consumption.

From the beginning of World War I until its end in 1918, the boundaries of the opposing sides had changed only 100 yards. About 58 million died (depends upon which set of statistics you want to believe).

By the way cause of the Franco-Prussian War was Otto Von Bismark, creator of the German Empire. He wanted to unite the German States under Prussia and did so.

A major cause of World War II was World War I.

I think I want a Guinness and forget all about this! :)

Tom


>as far as i remember there was also a napoleonic war that directly involved more countries than ww1 which some also considered a world war, often wondered who came up with calling the 1914-18 war ww1, or was it called the great war until ww2 when they renamed it?
>Slán
>~M
>
>>>Has anyone else been watching this documentary on the French Indian war? Part 2 is tonight on PBS.
>>
>>Hi Evan,
>>You may be interested in a book http://www.walkerbooks.com/books/catalog.php?key=468 by Fowler (haven't read it but saw an interesting interview with him on TVO Studio2 [Ontario current affairs program]).
>>He maintains that the war you mention actually kicked off what he calls the real first world war.
>>
>>Regards,
>>
>>Ed