ORIGIN OF THE WAR

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21253, 5 August 1932, Page 14

ORIGIN OF THE WAR

NATIONS' RESPONSIBILITY DIVISION IN TWO CAMPS The question of the direct responsibility for the outbreak of the Great War was dealt with by Dr. J. C. Beaglehole in an interesting address before tho League of Nations Union last evening. "Investigation of tho documents bearing on the origin of tho war proves conclusively that tho dogma of Germany' 3 exclusive responsibility has been in reality no more than a sedulously fostered legend," he stated. This conclusion has been proved by a number of very capable historical scholars of all nationalities, working independently, but with a single eye to tho discovery of the truth. The war arose quite naturally out of the system, or lack of system, on which the international life of Europe was based previously to 1914 —a system which had been truly described as one of international anarchy. "Under such conditions the outbreak' of a world-wide conflict was sooner or later inevitable," he added. The lecturer then dealt with the important movements of economic imperialism and national ambition as tho general causes lying behind the origin of the war. Europe was divided into two camps, that of the Triple Alliance of the Central Powers, and that of the Triple Entente of Russia, France and England. "This alignment of forces," he said, "was complicated almost' beyond estimation by the system of secret treaties, many of them contradictovy, which mado it certain that whenever occasion arose the most trivial difference would be elevated into a war of universal proportions. When the actual crisis came there was thus hardly any possibility of avoiding war, and certainly no one country can exclusively bear the blame," he concluded.