In my opinion it is already a proxy war of words, and a proxy war with Russian and Chinese weapons.

I was just reading Eric Larsen's Dead Wake: Last Crossing of the Lusitania. Less well-known than the Titanic, the luxury liner Lusitania was sunk by a German U-Boat--in 2015 and drew the USA into World War I.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RMS_Lusitania

https://www.rmslusitania.info/people/lusitania-survivors/

https://www.rmslusitania.info/people/lusitania-victims/