The Germans did not will the war. It was forced on them by the Russian Imperialists ... The German, Russian, French, Belgian and allied peoples became alike the sorrowful victims ... The happiness and future peace of the world require the reconciliation of the German and French people.Owen, The Russian Imperial Conspiracy. p. vi. Italics in original.The extent to which Owen's position on the origins of the war had changed can be exemplified by comparing The Russian Imperial Conspiracy to a pamphlet he had published in 1919, under the title Where is God in the European War? He wrote there (pp. 15-16): "The war was unavoidable when the power to prepare for war became vested in the hands of a Kaiser who had the vanity, the ambition, and the folly to believe he could successfully conquer the world, and the insolence and wickedness to attempt it, and a subservient people to follow and support his foolish ambition".
