Lehmann Brothers might have failed in 2008. That might have caused the collapse of the housing market and the curent recession. But no one feared that it would cause civil war to break out in the United States. But in Europe, fresh from two world wars, friction could lead to armed conflict. England and Germany are at odds again. Germany wants to dominate the low countries and other countries to the East.
The only thing different from one hundred years ago when World War I began is that the United States is the referee.