Great Game and the Road to Armageddon—European Imperialism and the System That Produced World War
- Jeff Kellick
- Jan 31
- 1 min read
Empire of Liberty: America's Foreign Entanglements from the Founders to the Forever Wars - Ep. 04
Before Americans can evaluate whether intervention in World War I was wise, they must understand the system they were being asked to join. This episode examines the European imperial order that produced the Great War: the British Empire at its zenith, the Crimean War and the birth of anti-Russian propaganda, the romantic brutality of the Great Game in Afghanistan, the horrors of the Scramble for Africa, and the alliance system that transformed a Balkan assassination into continental catastrophe. We trace how commitments made decades earlier removed human judgment from crisis response—and ask whether similar dynamics operate today.
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