“World War One started a generation before the summer of 1914, when rising power

–“World War One started a generation before the summer of 1914, when rising powers, particularly Germany, started devoting more and more of their resources to military and naval affairs setting off an arms race and a rivalry for colonial territories.”–Christopher Capozzola, MIT

“The blame is on the system of empires themselves”

This is why I say that the USA’s postwar order is an attempt to end empires and produce federations, core states, and free trade, prohibiting the formation of empires.