alt Hacker NewsThat's the Capitalist peace theory, proposed in 1795 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capitalist_peace_theory
It has some truth to it, but it doesn't survive looking at European history. In 1913 Germany and Britain were each other's largest trading partners, but a year later they ended up fighting each other in WWI. They fought again in WWII. Nuclear deterrence is a better explanation of post-WWII peace.
Yep. People want to believe this, because it means the world will generally become more peaceful as it becomes more integrated. But the numbers just don't hold up -- the closest trading partners are just as willing to go to war as anyone else.