Blainey in his book The Causes of War (1973) lists a number of causes of war in popular imagination.
- “In the eighteenth century, many philosophers thought that the ambitions of absolute monarchs were the main cause of war; pull down the mighty, and wars would become rare.
- Another theory contended that many wars came from the Anglo-French rivalry for colonies and commerce: restrain that quest, and peace would be more easily preserved.
- The wars following the French Revolution fostered an idea that popular revolutions were becoming the main cause of international war.
- In the nineteenth century, monarchs who sought to unite their troubled country by a glorious foreign war were widely seen as culprits.
- At the end of that century the capitalists‘ chase for markets or investment outlets became a popular villain.
- The First World War convinced many writers that armaments races and arms salesmen had become the villains, and both world wars fostered the idea that militarist regimes were the main disturbers of the peace.”
Source: Blainey, G. (1973). The Causes of War. Free Press. NY.