Fog of Peace: The Military Dimensions of the Concert of Europe

摘要

The author states that the Concert of Europe had two goals: to suppress violentpolitical revolution and to avoid general war. Europeans enjoyed economic growth, increasingly integrated markets, and cultural interaction due to higher literacy rates and more convenient and affordable means of travel. Thus the Concert of Europe succeeded in limiting both the scope and intensity of warfare in Europe for nearly a century until it fell apart in 1914 as military strategists were unprepared for the kind of war in which they found themselves. Convinced that technology had provided the key to fighting precise--if bloody--but short wars, they were totally unready for the long and costly conflict that took shape by early 1915. (KAR) P. 3.