Het tweevoudig verbond contra de drievoudige Entente (het wereldconflict als een rechtsgeding behandeld)

Imagine a courtroom perched above the turmoil of 1914, where a seasoned American lawyer proposes a global tribunal to settle the great powers’ quarrels. He sketches the diplomatic cast—British secretaries, Russian envoys, Austro‑Hungarian ministers—and asks whether the declarations of war could ever be just. This opening frames a legal‑philosophical inquiry that treats the looming world conflict as a matter of law rather than mere force.

The essay then confronts the prevailing “Bernhardi” doctrine that slices morality aside in favor of military expediency, arguing instead that war itself betrays civilization’s core values. By weighing questions such as Austria’s right to strike Serbia or Germany’s justification for confronting Russia and France, the author builds a case for moral accountability before any shot is fired. Listeners are invited to follow this early‑stage debate, which lays out the ethical foundations that shaped the era’s diplomatic storm.