Does RTW follow a modern idea of war?

[RabbitDynamite]

I seriously doubt that there were many nations/empires/miscellanious, in ANY historical period that refused to sign a peace treaty (even an unfair one) when they recognised they'd be swept away if they didn't.

Great examples of this are the treaties of Brest-Litovsk and Versailles in WWI. This was the first true "total" war and despite that both Russia and Germany agreed to crippling peace treaties because they knew they were doomed if they didn't. Even the Nazis, in the last weeks of WWII, were clinging to a desperate hope they could exploit tension between the allies to put a separate peace together.

And Will-you-fight, I don't think the topic starter was saying that RTW is like a modern war. He was asking if it had been influenced by our modern perception of war. No need to be snappy.