Today is the 110th anniversary of the outbreak of World War I

Today is the 110th anniversary of the outbreak of World War I when the Kaiser troops rolled into Belgium. WWI was the cataclysmic division between the old social, economic, and political order and the modern era.

On 28 June 1914, a Serbian radical assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, and his wife. That was a culmination of a decade and a half of shootings of royalty and heads of state:

1900 the king of Italy
1901 the President of the United States
1903 the King and Queen of Serbia and it’s Prime Minister
1907 the king of Bulgaria
1908 the king of Portugal
1911 the Prime Minister of Russia
1912 the Prime Minister of Spain
1913 the king of Greece

Even today’s conflict between Ukraine and Russia and the war in the Middle East can be traced back to the clash of empires that began in World War I. WWI led to the destruction of czarism in Russia, the fall of the Kaiser in Germany, the fall of the Astro-Hungarian Empire, and the end of the Ottoman Empire.

Austria-Hungary, with German encouragement, declared war on Serbia. Russia's support of Serbia brought France into the conflict. Germany then declared war on Russia and France. Germany's violation of Belgian neutrality on Aug 4 and British fears of German domination in Europe brought Britain and its empire into the war.

A great book on the war is Barbara Tuchman‘s The Guns of August. JFK made this required reading for his cabinet. It is one of a few books I’ve read more than once.

One crucial aspect was how major countries felt that war was inevitable and there was no turning back, when objectively they could have. Germany feared being surrounded. France was itching to get revenge for their humiliating defeat in 1870.

The world saw a sea change in the technology of war. Tanks and machine guns on the ground, dreadnought battleships on the sea, and airplanes in the air. Perhaps most horrifying was the invention and use of chemical gases.

The world has never been the same since!