The Powder Keg

Europe in 1914 was a continent of extraordinary wealth, culture, and self-confidence — and an armed camp of interlocking alliances sitting atop decades of accumulated grievances.

The great powers had not fought each other in a major conflict since the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71, when Germany unified by crushing France and seizing the provinces of Alsace and Lorraine. France never forgot.

By 1914, Europe's powers had sorted themselves into two armed camps. The Triple Alliance: Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy. The Triple Entente: France, Russia, and Britain. Each alliance had been built for defensive deterrence, but the result was that any conflict between any two powers risked pulling in all six.

Military planners had spent years perfecting mobilization timetables — rigid railway schedules for moving millions of men. Once started, these timetables were nearly impossible to stop.

Germany, the newest great power, felt encircled and resentful — a rising industrial giant who had arrived late to the scramble for empire. Kaiser Wilhelm II was erratic and aggressive, firing Bismarck and abandoning the careful diplomacy that had kept the peace for two decades. Britain and France had vast empires; Germany had fragments.

The German military had a plan — the Schlieffen Plan — to deal with a two-front war: knock out France in six weeks through Belgium, then turn on Russia.

Then came June 28, 1914. Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, was assassinated in Sarajevo by Gavrilo Princip, a Bosnian Serb nationalist. Austria blamed Serbia. Germany gave Austria a 'blank check' of support. Austria issued an impossible ultimatum to Serbia.

When Serbia accepted almost everything but Austria declared war anyway, Russia mobilized to protect Serbia. Germany declared war on Russia. France was allied with Russia. Germany invaded neutral Belgium to execute the Schlieffen Plan. Britain, which had guaranteed Belgian neutrality, declared war on Germany.

In six weeks, the whole of Europe was at war.