It is not likely that there was a near collision because there would have been a recorded occultation, which is an eclipse between planets or other bodies that don't emit light. In the seventh century under Babylonian King Ammisaduqa observations of Venus were made and recorded on tablets with no such unusual behavior noted. Orbital paths do change but change more or less consistently.
Eccentricity is a measure that describes the shape of the orbit with 0 being a circle and greater than 0 being increasingly more elliptical. Venus is the closest planet to having a 0 eccentricity and Mars has only a smaller eccentricity when compared to Mercury. The orbital paths have not changed significantly during the phase of human life on earth.
The Solar System is 4.6 billion years old so it had some time to get a good rhythm way before we came along.
I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.