The Foreign Office knows no secrets.

The great armies, accumulated to provide security and preserve the peace, carried the nations to war by their own weight.

A master of improvised speech and improvised policies.

Though the object of being a Great Power is to be able to fight a Great War, the only way of remaining a Great Power is not to fight one.

Like most of those who study history, he (Napoleon III) learned from the mistakes of the past how to make new ones.

Bismarck fought 'necessary' wars and killed thousands, the idealists of the twentieth century fight 'just' wars and kill millions.

Human blunders usually do more to shape history than human wickedness.