... war was inevitable because letting this chain reaction continue would have led to World War I yet trying to stop or reverse it would have caused chaos throughout Europe. The reason this process could not have been reversed was if one country demobilized it would have put that country at the "mercy of its adversaries." In other words, other countries would have seen it as a good chance to attack that country, since it would not be able to defend itself. Another reason, diplomacy could not have worked at reversing this process was due to the attitudes of the leaders at this time. For example, William II of Germany had "an instinctive preference for methods of violence" rather than peaceful methods. "Allied to this growing militarism was an intense nationalism (Tonge, 1)." Countries such as Germany and Great Britain wanted to achieve 'world-power status'. For example in Germany Weltpolitik was ...

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