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> was one of the most advanced, sophisticated, and educated countries in the world

It was also an economic disaster. Surely that contributed.

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WWI was the cataclysm that destroyed the global economy.

(Its aftermath was a necessary transition, that happened to be disastrously mismanaged.)

The current proponents of new "realism" who claim that regional empires will co-exist in peace would do well to study the causes of WWI.

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