WWI was started over something just as stupid as this.
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Yes. It's frightening.
FRiend, it wasn't 'something stupid'.
The war started because Germany invaded Belgium and Austria-Hungary (AH) invaded Serbia.
Those powers - the 'Axis' powers - didn't go to war because of the assassination of the Arch-Duke. They went to war because they believed that they were going to gain control of Europe.
The Austro-Hungarian empire seized on the death of the ArchDuke as a pretext, and gave a strict ultimatum to Serbia.
Serbia promptly accepted 90% of their terms. They accepted all the terms that they could possibly accept and still maintain sovereign control over their own army. Austro-Hungary had saved face - there was no sense in which the Axis powers were backed into a corner.
However peace simply wouldn't do. The Axis powers wanted war because they believed - not unreasonably - that they were going to win it. They had a very precise, war-winning plan and they meant to use it.
WW1 was a war of territorial aggrandisment launched by the German Confederation and the Austro-Hungarian Empire. They could have had peace, but they wanted war. It wasn't stupid (at least not in the sense of something trivial) - it was a horribly sincere war of oppression.
Hope this is helpful.
To point this out...WW I is rarely discussed today in any high school or any university. Few historians really can stand there and discuss the whole period.
First, you had the Hapsburg Empire in decline...with a bunch of jokers as states (Bosnia was the trouble-maker in this case....along with Serbia).
Second, the Crown Prince of the Hapsburg Empire was a fairly high-ranking individual, when murdered there on the streets of Sarajevo. The planners? All Serbian, and you could count into the dozens when it came to the planning and mission to kill the Crown Prince.
Third, this blunt message from the Hapsburg Empire wasn’t that tough on requirements (only three things) to clean up the mess after the murder. One of the requirements was to cut out all propaganda from the Serbia revolutionary guys. No discussion at all...the Serbs quickly turned on this help-us-out treaty with Russia.
Fourth, Kaiser Wilhelm II....was not Kaiser Wilhelm I. This was a guy ill-suited for the job...hated politicians...thought the Hapsburgs were good buddies of his (something that Bismarck and Wilhelm I would never have said), and didn’t bat an eye when it was apparent that he’d have to fight Russia, England and France.
Fifth, because of Teddy’s little anger episode....Wilson easily wins the Presidency in 1912. Taft should have easily won, and the US involvement might have come even earlier.
Sixth and final....the climax of WW I....merely leads onto WW II twenty years later.
You can look at the present mess in Syria and see dozens of stumbling points where we shouldn’t be in the current position. All you need is one missile to go the wrong way....some Russian ship thinks they are under attack...activates their defenses....and sinks a US carrier. In twenty-four hours....you’ve recreated all the steps of WW I. And it all leads back to Muslims...that’s the comical part of this story.