A first argument could be that some leaders have contributed to the further destabilization of the international system. For example, Hitler was an unpredictable fusion of Kaiser Wilhelm's hegemonic ambitions and Bismarck's Machiavellian politics. According to Mearshimer, he “not only pitted his opponents against each other, but [convinced] them that Nazi Germany had benevolent intentions” (Mearshimer 2001, 216). Nonetheless, his concern for security and the consolidation of Germany as a powerful nation within the international system was no different from that of his predecessors. In line with this intent, Hitler alone was not the cause of World War II, in the same way that Wilhelm II could not declare war on the Triple Entente before the assassination of the Archduke