This line of argument looks much less persuasive, however, when the timeline includes
the nineteenth century. There was no war between any European great powers from 1815
to 1853, and again from 1871 to 1914. Those lengthy periods of relative stability, which
occurred in multipolar Europe, compare favourably with the ‘long peace’ of the Cold War.
Thus, it is difficult to determine whether bipolarity or multipolarity is more prone to great
power war by looking at modern European history.