I would guess that in the case of a limited war where allies of the attackee intervened, then they could choose limited war, or not. Thus, you can still have a limited war quickly furball into a general one (think WW I). Thus limited war doesn't give the player a blank check to attack individual nations on a one on one basis.Heres a question about limited wars.
Since you did a limited war against Yugo what would happen if one of there "friends" declared war on you for it. Would they
(1 be up against just you since it was a limited war,
(2 be up against your whole alliance,
(3 or would your allies have a choice whether to join or not?