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World
Context
The Power Keg
Europe, in the years leading up to the Great War, was a tangled nest of fragile
alliances, resentments, ambitions and egos. Pre-war Europe was dominated by sprawling
empires each cobbled together from separate states and territories with their
own inner tensions, religions and cultures. The centre of the continent was dominated
by the German Empire to the north and the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy in the middle.
To the east, massive Russia pressed its Polish border against the German Empire.
France sat to the west, buffered from the German Empire by Belgium and the Alsace-Lorraine
territory, which France had lost during the Franco-Prussian War. The United Kingdom,
an island empire, dominated the world's seas with its massive, highly trained
navy and was occupied with its sprawling global colonies.
The alliances among the Great Powers of Europe were based on religion, war, trade, |
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expediency and pragmatism – none of which made for lasting bonds.
France resented and distrusted the German Empire for its annexation of Alsace-Lorraine
in 1870. The United Kingdom worried that Russia could threaten its Eastern trade
and France had been a longstanding rival.
The Austro-Hungarian Monarchy was assembled in 1867 from "submerged nations" including
Serbians, Hungarians and Romanians and was ruled by the Habsburg Dynasty and
Hungarian royalty. This dual monarchy and the resentment of the nations that
formed the massive European power made for internal strife, especially in the
Balkans. That strife would eventually spark the Great War.
The German Empire, drawn together in 1871 by Otto Von Bismark, was a militaristic
culture that, rightly, felt itself surrounded by enemies and feared a Balkan
uprising encouraged by bordering Russia. The power keg, dried by a gathering
wind of ill-will, was set to burst into flame.
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Europe 1914
Pre-war
Europe was dominated by sprawling empires, each with their own inner tensions,
religions and cultures.
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