"The German army could have been marching down the Mall, and the High Seas fleet steaming up the Medway, but even that would be better than 17 million dead."

Are you really trying to suggest that if Great Britain had not entered the war Guest Dave that the Great War would never have happened???

If you are in any doubt at all GUEST Dave the following conflicts would still have gone ahead in 1914:

1: The War in the East against Serbia and Russia - How many died there GUEST Dave?

2: The invasion of Belgium - How many died there GUEST Dave?

3: The war against France - How many died there GUEST Dave?

With Belgium annexed what do you think the chances would have been for an independent Netherlands or an independent Denmark?

As the nineteenth century drew to a close the German Kaiser tried to make things difficult for the British in South Africa by supporting the Boers and supplying them with arms. How much trouble do you think they could have caused with an army of 4.5 million and the springboard of former Belgian and French possessions to operate from?