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There was plenty of important conflicts in Europe between WW1 and the Napoleonic wars, not on the same scale, but it was hardly peaceful. Europe was undergoing major structural changes with the advent of nationalisms.

And the causes of war are a lot more complicated than just Germany looking for export markets and colonies. It might be one of many causes (or rather consequences of other factors), but it's hardly the basic driver.

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Indeed, just in the decade or so before the guns of august, there were a whole series of wars throughout the Balkans, as the Ottoman Empire started to unravel, that primed the tinderbox and led to the events of Sarajevo. Given a few more years, it's almost inevitable that nationalist movements would have fractured and busted apart the Austro-Hungarians and their uneasy multicultural coalition, given the frightening incompetence of most of their leadership.

The reunification of Italy always seems to get swept under the rug as well.

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