February 19, 1995 ICLC Schiller Institute conference, Reston Virginia. In the second keynote, Mr. LaRouche's wife, Helga Zepp-LaRouche, the chairman of the Schiller Institute's international board, demonstrated how the abandonment of the Renaissance conception by governments in the late 19th century led to the tragedy of World War I, and how similar follies threaten to plunge the world into World War III today. The fundamental difference today, she emphasized, is the existence of the LaRouche movement, which provides the potential for averting the collapse into a New Dark Age. Mrs. LaRouche used two plays, "Don Carlos" and "The Maid of Orleans," by the German poet and dramatist Friedrich Schiller (1759-1805), to exemplify the principle of tragedy in drama and in history. Schiller's representation of the punctum saliens, the critical point of no return at which the hero must choose either to mobilize the qualities to solve the crisis facing him, or to capitulate to his own personal weaknesses, starkly highlights the choices for every individual, she said. The tragedy of wrong choices which led to World War I, which Mrs. LaRouche analyzed in general, was elaborated in detail in four historical presentations on the formation of the Triple Entente (the alliance among France, Britain, and Russia), which led to World War I. Former Schiller Institute president Webster Tarpley began with an eye-opening expose of the crucial organizing role of Britain's Edward VII for the effort.