July 31, 1914
The royal houses of Europe are trying to prevent the outbreak of a general war all over the continent. They understand that once war begins, anything can be the outcome. But they all have foreign ministers and military chiefs-of-staff and loads of other councilors, all of whom have devoted their lives to contingency planning in case of war. Those contingency plans and the associated international agreements make it impossible for anything to be done to prevent the coming apocalypse.
Telegrams are flying over the last few days between the ruling houses of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Russia as they attempt to advise each other on how to avoid the catastrophe. As of today, only Germany of the European powers has not yet begun to position troops and material in preparation for war. The others are tiptoeing around trying to put the most innocuous public face on their preparations. Meanwhile, Germany is becoming acutely aware that this situation could present a major problem for her if she doesn't get with it. Her plans for war secretly call for her to march across Belgium and into France from the north in an early prototype of what would later be called "blitzkreig". She rather boldly attempts to "buy" British neutrality by assuring her that she will restore the borders of France and Belgium after the war which is seeming more and more inevitable.
"BELGIUM?! - who said anything about Belgium?!" wonders Great Britain. Very quickly the answer is pretty obvious to the British military planners.
Thursday, July 31, 2014
Sunday, July 27, 2014
Ships pass in the night
July 29, 1914
Two telegrams, between Kaiser Wilhelm and his cousin, Czar Nicholas II pass each other intransit today. Both are conciliatory. Nicholas asks the Kaiser to do what he can to restrain his ally Austria-Hungary. The Kaiser is thinking along the very same vein, but does scribble later in the margins of Nicholas' wire that this demonstrates Russia's obvious weakness. The telegrams are signed from "Nicky" and "Willi". The royal houses are remembering that war very often results in unintended consequences and the world of the early 20th century is rife with unpleasant possibilities. Still in the end all three of the royal houses will allow pride to overcome self-interest. There's an eternal lesson from history there!
Two telegrams, between Kaiser Wilhelm and his cousin, Czar Nicholas II pass each other intransit today. Both are conciliatory. Nicholas asks the Kaiser to do what he can to restrain his ally Austria-Hungary. The Kaiser is thinking along the very same vein, but does scribble later in the margins of Nicholas' wire that this demonstrates Russia's obvious weakness. The telegrams are signed from "Nicky" and "Willi". The royal houses are remembering that war very often results in unintended consequences and the world of the early 20th century is rife with unpleasant possibilities. Still in the end all three of the royal houses will allow pride to overcome self-interest. There's an eternal lesson from history there!
Friday, July 25, 2014
Gears turn slowly at first
July 25, 1914
Austria-Hungary, deeply offended by the assassination of the heir to the throne of the dual monarchy, knows that one possible response is war on Serbia. Chief of Staff of the A-H army Conrad von Holtzendorf is fairly champing at the bit to make that happen. The royal family sees the hazards of that course of action so for the last three and a half weeks has been gauging the feelings of Austria's stronger ally, Germany. There are plenty of dogs of war there, chief among them the high warlord, Kaiser Wilhelm II who is itching to show the world just what he is made of. Austria-Hungary, encouraged by the noises coming from Germany, decides to issue an ultimatum to Serbia, with a deadline of today. Serbia, although conciliatory, cannot accept those demands in full.
Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Russia all begin to mobilize for war. German war plans call for her to deliver a quick knockout punch to her enemy to the west, France. She must find a way to get this thing started, so as not to allow time for Russia to prepare for the encirclement of Germany.
Austria-Hungary, deeply offended by the assassination of the heir to the throne of the dual monarchy, knows that one possible response is war on Serbia. Chief of Staff of the A-H army Conrad von Holtzendorf is fairly champing at the bit to make that happen. The royal family sees the hazards of that course of action so for the last three and a half weeks has been gauging the feelings of Austria's stronger ally, Germany. There are plenty of dogs of war there, chief among them the high warlord, Kaiser Wilhelm II who is itching to show the world just what he is made of. Austria-Hungary, encouraged by the noises coming from Germany, decides to issue an ultimatum to Serbia, with a deadline of today. Serbia, although conciliatory, cannot accept those demands in full.
Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Russia all begin to mobilize for war. German war plans call for her to deliver a quick knockout punch to her enemy to the west, France. She must find a way to get this thing started, so as not to allow time for Russia to prepare for the encirclement of Germany.
Thursday, July 24, 2014
Death of an Archduke
The Habsburgs are a ruling family moribund and steeped in the history of old Europe. The royal history of the family goes back to 1273, when Rudolf I was crowned the first king of Germany. In its long and varied history, the family expanded, mostly by marriage, and endured contraction, usually due to rising nationalism, of its holdings all over the continent.
The current Habsburg emperor of the Austo-Hungarian empire, Franz Ferdinand is aging at 66. In 1899, his only son had committed suicide in a pact with a commoner with whom he had been conducting a tempestuous love affair. He was the famous Crown Prince Rudolf.
Into the vacuum reluctantly stepped a nephew, Franz Ferdinand. In yet another eruption of nationalist fervor, he and his wife are assassinated by a Serbian terrorist who is deeply offended by the encroachment of German outsiders into his Slavic country. The assassination occurs on June 28, 1914. In weeks to come the dominoes will inevitably fall that lead to a most destructive war, but this event is the trigger that sets is all in motion.
The action fulfilled a prophecy made back in 1888. The German genius statesman Otto von Bismark had predicted "One day the great European war will come out of some damned foolish thing in the Balkans." He was a careful and pragmatic architect of modern Europe and his antipathy to the blustering Kaiser Wilhelm II was the undoing of his brilliant political career.
The current Habsburg emperor of the Austo-Hungarian empire, Franz Ferdinand is aging at 66. In 1899, his only son had committed suicide in a pact with a commoner with whom he had been conducting a tempestuous love affair. He was the famous Crown Prince Rudolf.
Into the vacuum reluctantly stepped a nephew, Franz Ferdinand. In yet another eruption of nationalist fervor, he and his wife are assassinated by a Serbian terrorist who is deeply offended by the encroachment of German outsiders into his Slavic country. The assassination occurs on June 28, 1914. In weeks to come the dominoes will inevitably fall that lead to a most destructive war, but this event is the trigger that sets is all in motion.
The action fulfilled a prophecy made back in 1888. The German genius statesman Otto von Bismark had predicted "One day the great European war will come out of some damned foolish thing in the Balkans." He was a careful and pragmatic architect of modern Europe and his antipathy to the blustering Kaiser Wilhelm II was the undoing of his brilliant political career.
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