Wow Pat, by your logic WW I wasn’t necessary either. Matter of fact, the American civil war could have been avoided all together if General Lee and Grant had just sat down to tea.
It certainly would have been over much sooner if only R.E. Lee had taken Lincoln’s offer. There wouldn’t be an Arlington National Cemetery today. At least not in the place where it is.
Well, actually, before the bullets and shells started flying, it wasn't.
Germany cleaned France's clock in the Franco-Prussian War and the World went on, hardly noticing.
The traditional enemy of Britain was never Germany. It was France. In their hearts, the French still feel that way. Just ask one of them.
The Anglo-German rivalry began with the threat to British naval supremacy but that did not have to lead to war. Britain could have made room for a powerful ally on the waves that Britannia ruled rather than devastate Britain in a World War.
After World War One, a similar situation was developing between the U.S. and Britain. In the 1920's, most senior U.S. naval officers believed that the most likely future enemy of the U.S. Navy would be the Royal Navy.