Did it start because a Serbian terrorist assassinated an Austrian archduke in 1914, or did it have more to do with ascendant German power challenging Britain, or rising nationalism throughout Europe? The answer is “all of the above, plus more.” But war was not inevitable until it actually broke out in August 1914 and even then, it was not inevitable that four years of carnage had to follow. World War I occurred over a century ago, yet historians still write books debating what caused it. How can we discern the origins of a war that may last for years? While many in the West see a war of choice by Russian President Vladimir Putin, he says that NATO’s 2008 decision in favor of eventual Ukrainian membership brought an existential threat to Russia’s borders, and still others trace the conflict back to the Cold War’s end and the failure of the West to support Russia adequately after the collapse of the Soviet Union. CAMBRIDGE – Russia’s war in Ukraine is the most disruptive conflict that Europe has seen since 1945.
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