People take the longest possible paths, digress to numerous dead ends, and make all kinds of mistakes. Then historians come along and write summaries of this messy, nonlinear process and make it appear like a simple, straight line.
“The United States is the most powerful nation on Earth and it just can't walk away from the Middle East and central Asia and the Horn of Africa.”
“Envy is never general, but always very particular - at least envy of the kind one feels strongly.”