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I recommend this book whenever I get the chance; if you are interested in the history of war, read Barbara Tuchman's The Guns of August. It is a sweeping but clear account of the events that lead Europe into WWI. One impression it made upon me, was to look for the causes of war decades before the start. It seems to be a rhyme that history has.
Interestingly, I've heard that JFK required that everyone in his cabinet read it. I have to wonder if Obama or Bush had required reading.
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My favorite anecdote about the beginnings of war involves the genesis of the Crimean war, which is little known about but took hundreds of thousands of lives. Apparently, the war started because of a fistfight between MONKS. A group of Catholic and a group of Russian Orthodox monks got into a giant brawl over who got to place the Christmas star on the nativity scene they had set up in Bethlehem. The French then took exception, citing a treaty they had that gave them the right to protect the Holy Land. There was then a giant diplomatic row, and before you know it multiple countries were slaughtering each other in a worthless piece of Russia. Leo Tolstoy was an officer for Russia in the Crimea. He wrote to his wife (I'm obviously paraphrasing here) that he is a much better commander of words than of men, and that he will become a writer if he survives the war. Pretty awesome stuff, IMO.