Today is the 100th anniversary of the assassination of Franz Ferdinand and his wife that set off the chain reaction of alliances that led to the outbreak of World War One. On the evening of June 28, 1914, 19-year Gavrilo Princip, unknowingly changed the course of history that is responsible for the world order in which we live today. If World War One did not happen, World War Two would not have happened. The aftermath of World War Two resulted in the world order that we live in today. From London, to Moscow, to Nairobi, to New Delhi, to Tokyo, to Tel Aviv to New York City, nearly every part of the world was somehow shaped into what it is today because of an assassination in Sarajevo that most Europeans did not care about, and hardly anyone outside of Europe even knew about.
In 1914, Europe dominated the world with its overseas empires. The present-day countries of Africa, Asia and Latin America were the colonial properties of Europe. World War One lessened Europe’s hold on its colonies and planted the seeds for the independence movements that came in the years following World War Two.
The European continent was torn apart by World War One, and historians today continue to debate whether it was inevitable or could have been prevented. Although the period between 1875-1914 is called ‘la belle epoque’ for its relative peace, this was largely confined to the upper classes of society. Elsewhere, tensions in Europe were building over nationalism, colonial possessions, and monarchy vs democracy. As World War One caused the demise many monarchies, which were replaced by dictatorships in a psuedo peace in a world economy battered by an economic depression. World War Two would become the war between democracy and dictatorship.
Before World War One, the British Empire was at its peak, controlling 25% of the world’s population. However its leaders worried about a rising Germany, whose leader Kaiser Wilhelm II wanted to supplant the British. Rulers of the Russian and Austro-Hungarian empires were fearful of losing their great power status after a demoralizing loss to a nation presumed inferior, and centuries of domination, respectively. France, having been humiliated in the Franco-Prussian war wanted a chance to redeem itself in on the world stage.
World War One is my favorite war but it does not get a lot of attention in the United States. The little attention it does receive focuses on how they shaped the leading figures in World War Two and American intervention in 1917. World War Two gets most of the attention in our classroom textbooks, movies and political discussions. But being a European history nerd, I cannot help but delve into the root causes of the war that supposed “To End All Wars.” Especially as the same themes and dynamics repeat themselves today.
Empress Samantha 