Did Friedrich Engels predict World War I?

In 1887, Friedrich Engels wrote an introduction to the text by Sigismund Borkheim, but he was talking about something very similar to what later became World War I. He studied the growth of weapons and the competition between European countries, which were fighting for power, influence, and money. Engels predicted a huge war, with millions of soldiers, that would destroy Europe, exactly what happened years later. He was already talking about a total war, which would affect not only the armies but all of society, the economy, and people’s lives. He also predicted the fall of great empires, such as the German, Austro-Hungarian, and Russian. Some people may think it was just a guess, but in fact he did it based on his analysis of European capitalism. Engels saw that Europe was full of conflicts and that war seemed inevitable. In the text, he spoke about famine, diseases, and violence, and already foresaw the great destruction that was coming. He got a lot right about what happened between 1914 and 1918.

The war was linked to the rise of nationalism, which made countries and peoples fight, especially in the Balkans. What triggered the conflict was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo, in 1914, by a nationalist named Gavrilo Princip, who was part of the group Black Hand. Serbia became the focus of the crisis because it was a symbol of nationalist resistance against the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Imperialism was also important, as countries competed for colonies and markets around the world. The idea of the “white man’s burden” was used to justify the domination of other peoples. There were also military alliances that quickly intensified the conflicts. When the war broke out, many countries got involved. Thus, what Engels said became reality, due to the tensions and conflicts of the time.