"no individual actor made the decision to plunge their mighty military power into the conflagration" Yeah, that part is really the key to everything.

"no individual actor made the decision to plunge their mighty military power into the conflagration" Yeah, that part is really the key to everything. The big wars were really a form of violent economic panic, writ large, and without descalation channels, partly as a component of monarchy, divine right and authoritarian autocracy, but also horrendously aggrivated by profound leaps of technological power, mostly by way of chemistry and industrial scale production of chemicals. No one knew it would get that bad, that fast, that way. And during a time when royalty simply would not back down from a fight. There are hot spots and proxy wars right now. If they go sideways, and spill a hot mess in the wrong lap, could an uncontrolled panic open up and let loose a new kind of conflagration we weren't expecting or have never before considered? That's probably the hardest riddle. How does one anticipate an unexpected, unplanned atrocity?