The War to End All Wars: Reflections on the First World War and Public Affairs

As I write this many of us are reflecting upon theoutbreak and impact of the First World War onEurope and the World. It was declared during theSummer of 1914 in Europe, when much decisionmaking was limited due to leaders being on holidayand was almost inevitable as some have argued, asthe trains had been booked and troops were mobi-lised. Clearly political communications were notgood and European Continental Entente fell apartunder the pressures of ambition, greed, nationalism,alackof trustandpublicaffairssystems notbeinginplace to build cooperation and stop massdestruction.As Margot Asquith the wife of the British Primeminister put it “War! War! – everyone at dinnerdiscussing how long the war would last. Theaverage opinion was 3 weeks to 3 months” (24