system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
[Warhammer Fantasy] Why didn't it occur to the Elves that the Dark Elves probably did some false flag shenanigans when the Dwarves confronted them over Elven raiders?
gpt
The Elven Empire at the time was vast. Like, seriously vast. And almost constantly fighting against Lizardmen, primitive humans, Orcs, etc. The Phoenix King couldn't be entirely sure where all of his forces were at any given time, or what they were doing. Couple this with Caledor IIs legendary arrogance, and he likely assumed that A; the caravans in question deserved it, either for trading with their many enemies or just being in restricted territories. Or B; the Dwarves were just blaming the Elves because they wanted gold as compensation, being the greedy little half-Men they are. 

Of course, since this all took place before Caledor II first, with no indications that any of his court (many of whom were far more reasonable) having any of a heads up, the damage was done before the more rational leaders of Ulthuan could do anything. 

Considering the revelation that Malekith WAS the rightful Phoenix King all along (as a High Elf player for almost 20 years, that was super hard to read) and his relationship with the great Grombrindal, there may have been other forces at work pushing for the conflict as well.