That being said, if one of 32 countries in NATO provokes an attack, or IS attacked, we are automatically at war because of ironclad treaties in place.
If WW1 was a lesson in how treaties can spark a world war among countries simply because of the nature of those treaties w/out said countries NOT being directly attacked, than we HAVE NOT learned anything from the Great War, the war to end ALL wars which spawned another almost 20 years to the day later.