In just over 100 years the pattern is eerily similar; and so is the possibility of a similar confrontation and for the same reasons: the Thucydides Trap. We all know the tragic loss of lives and treasure in World War I and its follow-up, World War II. But all-out war between the U.S. and China, waged with modern weapons, which no rational person wants, would imperil the very existence of life on our planet.