24 OCTOBER 1998, Page 36

The Kaiser's arrogance

Sir: I am obliged gently to rebuke my for- mer colleague, John Keegan, not only for insisting (Letters, 17 October) that General Gallieni's name is not spelled with an acute accent (it is), but for the admission in his latest book that it is a mystery to him who started the first world war and why it all happened. Most historians today accept that the Kaiser's arrogance and hubris in goading the Habsburg Empire to press its case against Serbia made the conflict inevitable. Evidently these traits are not solely confined to warlords.

Sydney L. Mayer

2 Shrewsbury House, 42 Cheyne Walk, London SW3