Some Causes of the First World War and the Taboos of Historians is an academic journal article written by William M. Johnston considering the topic "And if?" ' about the First World War. He looks at how Vienna dealt with World War I along with its counterfactuals and how things would be different if a certain variable were to be altered (Johnston 77-84). Johnston is wrong in his theories about how the First World War could have been prevented, there are too many flaws in his ideas and too much information is provided for it to be prevented at all. This can be noted by examining the other factors that contributed to World War I and through research on Johnston. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Johnston's piece is an unorthodox article, examining the counterfactuals of World War I and how it could have been prevented. Examines the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand and how variables could have been changed to prevent war. Emperor Joseph decides not to hold a funeral ceremony for Ferdinand, the assassination does not occur, and family relationships are all observed to see if they could have prevented the war (Johnston 78-80). If historians had examined these counterfactuals in the past, we would have a better understanding of the past while it was still a big question at hand. Unfortunately, the “What if?” they were not examined due to the unwritten taboo of counterfactuals and the fear of being known as a "conventional historian" (Johnston 83-84). While Johnston presents a compelling argument, he has some errors in his ways. Johnston makes the variables of Archduke Ferdinand's funeral seem overly important, Ferdinand's assassination by a Serbian terrorist is more important than his funeral because the assassination is what led Austria to declare war on Serbia (Johnston 79-80). Two other main causes of the First World War that he points to are the rise of nationalism and the increase of alliances. In the nationalism of the 1800s, "the belief that loyalty to one's own nation and its political and economic goals come before any other country" became widely known (The Cause of WWI). Nationalism weakened European countries as national groups fought for independence and caused pre-war tensions between the groups. He also spurred support for the armed forces and their improvement so that the country could achieve its goals. Alliances have been formed around the world between different countries for a sense of security. Alliances could easily force a nation into war, normally winning due to the strength of the two nations forming an alliance and normally agreeing on issues, passing acts thanks to a majority vote. Other flaws stem from Johnston himself and how his life influenced his work. Johnston does more European history studies and has written pieces on Vienna, so he is likely to focus on European factors more than others and make them seem more important (Faculty). Even looking at Johnston's time period, late 20th century, we know that he did not witness the decision made by Emperor Franz Joseph not to hold a funeral for Ferdinand, so he does not know that the reasoning was 'personal antipathy' (Johnston 79 ). The final flaw in Johnston's work is that the "What if?" are strictly just that, there is no way to go back in time to test these theories, meaning you will never know whether WWI could have been prevented or not.