[BroJoeK]

"I’m currently reading Patrick J. Buchanan’s book HITLER, CHURCHILL, AND THE UNNECESSARY WAR. It’s a very good read and fully documented...
Of all the villians in WW1 most historians hold Germany’s Kaiser Wilhelm II the least culpable."

I've read the book completely, and agree that Buchanan makes some good points. But his fundamental assumptions are flawed, leading to ridicuous conclusions.

Here's an example:

The appropriate analogy for Germany's Kaiser Wilhelm in 1914 is the leader of a gang of thugs who walks into a bank (Serbia), intending to rob it. He does not intend to kill anyone, he just wants the money.

But once there, some of his goons (i.e., Moltke, Bethmann) begin shooting. Too late, the Kaiser says, "no, no, don't shoot," but once things get going, the Kaiser then orders his goons to kill everyone, including the neighbors and the local constabulary.

Buchanan refuses to understand this, even though he claims to have read widely on the subject.

So I have recommended here before, and will again -- here is the real story of what was going on during that summer of 1914:

Fromkin, "Europe's Last Summer"

[A'elian' nation]

Thanks Europe the Last Summer is the next book I’m going to read.

I wasn’t stating my opinion as much as I was presenting Buchanan’s documentation. I thought your Kaiser goon analogy a very astute one.

I did find it interesting, again according to Buchanan, that a 75yr old treaty with Belgium was used by England ( Churchill ) to involve itself in WWI.

Also between 1814 and 1914 England had been in 10 wars; Germany just 3.
Then again, England had an empire upon which the sun never set.