The basic cause of WW1 was rivalry between the imperialist (capitalist) states of Western Europe, principally the UK, France and Germany. This was reflected in the massive armament race between these countries during the 10-15 years preceding the outbreak of hostilities in 1914. It was also reflected in the redistribution of colonies after 11 November 1918, including so-called mandates from the League of Nations.
Imperialism is a necessary consequence of capitalism, since corporate survival demands continuous expansion of markets and production, which involves continuously increasing needs for raw-material inputs. Western Europe is not self-sufficient in the mineral resources required to sustain large modern industrial societies. They must be obtained elsewhere, and history from 1492 onward shows that the representatives of the West European market economy were and are prepared to use any means at their disposal to acquire what they needed – including genocide on a unique scale.
Those of you who enjoy repeating fantasy figures about deaths in the Soviet Union should consider the fact that the European marketeers exterminated about 90% of the indigenous population of what is now called Latin America in their frenetic search for riches. The figure for North America is around 98%. Who cares?
WW1 could probably have been prevented if the British Labour Party and the German Social Democrats had voted against the huge monetary appropriations that were needed to prosecute the war. But they sold out as usual to their capitalist masters. For some time prior to August 1914 both Lenin and the great Irish socialist James Connolly had warned that the working-class of Western Europe was going to be led to the slaughter in the service of imperialist rivalries, and they were absolutely correct.
WW1 in itself led to nothing but death or misery for most of the participants, but it did not definitively resolve the imperialist conflict, which erupted again in what is called WW2. The other causal factor in WW2 was of course the continuation of the war against the Soviet Union that had begun in 1919. The fear and loathing of socialism was and is shared by capitalists despite their internal conflicts.
The infamous Munich pact signed by the British, the French and the Germans was not appeasement, as represented in the Western media. It was a clear case of collusion. Chamberlain told the Germans that they could have “a free hand” in Central and Eastern Europe if they promised not to attack British international shipping. See In Our Time, Leibovitz and Finkel, Monthly Review Press, New York 1998, and The Drift to War 1922-1939, Richard Lamb, W. H. Allen, 1989. E.g. at meetings between British and French government representatives on November 28, 1938, Chamberlain mentioned the hopes that the Nazi regime embodied for the British upper class, i.e. the destruction of the USSR.
Wars subsequent to 1945have generally resulted from attempts to break out of the imperial grasp. Every country that has attempted to establish independence from imperial domination has been subject to either economic, political or military attack, or all three. For details, see Killing Hope, William Blum, Common Courage Press. 1995.
The Korean War was started by the US – see The Hidden History of the Korean War, I.F. Stone, Monthly Review Press, 1965.
The US war on Vietnam was a continuation of the French imperial war. At the treaty of Paris in 1954 the French, Americans, British and Vietnamese agreed that the French forces would be allowed to withdraw without being attacked, and nation-wide elections would be held in Vietnam within 18 months. But as President Eisenhower wrote, everyone knew that Ho Chi Minh would be elected, and he was a Communist. So that was that.
The reason for US support of the French and US need for domination of Vietnam was given by Eisenhower. In 1953 the Eisenhower government asked the US Congress to allocate 400 million dollars (about USD 2.8 billion in today’s money) to help the French, who were fighting desperately to maintain their colonies in what was then called Indo-China and is now known as Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. For various reasons, there was opposition to this request within the US. Some Congressmen said it was a giveaway that served no purpose.
Eisenhower: “Now let us assume that we lose Indo-China. If Indo-China goes, several things happen right away. The Malayan peninsula, the last bit of land hanging down there (sic!), would scarcely be defensible - and the tin and tungsten that we so greatly value from that area would cease coming . . . . All of that weakening position around there is very ominous for the United States, because finally if we lost all that, how would the free world (sic!) hold the rich empire of Indonesia? . . . So when the United States votes $400 million to help that war, we are not voting a giveaway program. We are voting for the cheapest way that we can to prevent the occurrence of something that would be of the most terrible significance to the United States of America - our security, our power and ability to get certain things we need from the riches of the Indo-Chinese territory and from Southeast Asia.” From Remarks, Governors’ Conference, August 4, 1953, Public Papers of the Presidents, 1953, p. 540.
This is one of the clearest statements of the imperialist imperative on record. And imperialism without war has never and will never exist.