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Prologue: The 2nd Seal is Broken

War is not a unique event. Since Cain murdered Abel the seeds of violence have been in human hearts and through human greed and lust for power wars have been waged. The only difference that separates the wars of Ancient Rome to what would become the Great War would be the size of the destruction caused by its players.

Truth be told the causes of the war can range back as far back as one could trace a line. Some of these are legitimate and others devolve into propaganda or needless complication. The causes for the conflict can be narrowed down to a few key moments.

In the forty years prior to 1914 the political climate in Europe had radically changed and with that change came a host of new problems. In that time Germany had been united by the Prussians, at the expense of the French during the Franco-Prussian War. This created a new regional power that had proven itself militarily and industrially. Italy had likewise completed its unification after marching into, and annexing the Papal States in 1870. The once mighty Ottoman Empire, had grown to become "the sick man of Europe" having lost almost all of its European holdings due to independence wars. These had seen the rise of nations such as Bulgaria, Serbia, Albania, Romania, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and Greece.

For Great Britain and France this rapidly changing climate presented a threat to their long established power on the continent. This was exacerbated by the growing arms race that was enveloping the continent. Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany had made a point to escalate the construction and upsizing of the Imperial Navy, in a sharp challenge to British superiority. While there was no official global policy against building ones military the Royal Navy made its own agenda of having a navy larger and stronger than the next two powers combined; any challenge to this was considered a direct threat.

Both nations responded by increasing their respective industrial bases for war making materials. This in turn caused a escalation among the other nations in Europe that would not see themselves left behind in favor of a growing Germany or Great Britain. It seemed the continent was an enlarging powderkeg and all that was needed was a single spark.

The most likely location for this was the Balkans. Austria-Hungary had annexed the areas of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1908 kicking off the Bosnian Crisis. The political maneuvering of the Kingdom of Serbia and its ally Imperial Russia created a situation that threatened to boil over into open conflict. This tension erupted into the First Balkan War. At the beginning of the war the Ottoman Empire was still considered one of the great powers of the region, however it had fallen on hard times.

In 1897 the island of Crete had revolted against their Ottoman occupiers and had nearly succeeded in throwing off their yoke but before their liberation could be completed the Ottomans landed a large force which successfully defeated the Greek forces. This had lead to a separate military revolt in 1909 which saw Eleftherios Venizelos emerge as the leader of a new progressive government in Greece.

What prompted further action against the Ottomans wasn't Greek but rather Italian movements. In 1911 Italy had invaded and seized Libya and the Dodecanese Islands from the Ottoman Empire. Within a year of those shocking events the various Christian kingdoms of the Balkans, seeing blood in the water, united themselves in an alliance known as the Balkan League. What followed was an 8 month war in 1912 and 1913, which carved up the majority of Ottoman territory in Europe and created the state of Albania.

Bulgaria, unhappy with what it saw as meager portions of the spoils from the conflict and disagreement with Serbia over claims to Macedonia attacked its former allies in 1913 resulting in its hasty defeat by Greece, Serbia and Romania resulting in the loss of territory to all. Rather than stabilize the region these conflicts only set more sparks into the waiting powderkeg.

As a part of the formal acquisition of their territories the Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie visited the Bosnian capital Sarajevo. Several nationals, supplied by the nationalistic organization Black Hand, organized a plan to assassinate the pair as a sign of defiance. Their plot succeeded after an initial attack failed but Gavrilo Princip was able to attack the convoy with a pistol and kill the young archduke and his wife on April 28th, 1914.

The attack itself did not cause any sort of major uproar in Vienna. These territories were seen as problematic and violence prone as it was. Austrian authorities stationed in Sarajevo on the contrary reacted with encouraging violence against Serbs residing in the city. This caused a series of violent riots where dozens of businesses were burned down and across the Balkan territories thousands of Serbs were arrested by mobs, police and even locally raised militias.

This kicked off a one month period known as the July Crisis, where the great European powers played power games maneuvering around one another trying to gain greater purchase over the others. On July 23 Austria-Hungary, believing Serbia had been behind the plot to kill the archduke issued the July Ultimatum, a series of demands purposely made impossible to fulfill.

As diplomatic pressure wound up the Russian Tsar Nicholas ordered partial mobilization on July 24th and Serbia declared total mobilization on the 25th. At the same time they declared that all terms of the July Ultimatum except for article six which mandated Austrian officials be allowed into Serbia for participation in the investigation of the assassination. The Austrians responded by breaking off diplomatic relations with Serbia and ordering its own partial mobilization. Then on July 28th, 1914 Austria-Hungary declared war.

The entangled system of alliances that connected the great powers in Europe lead to Germany declaring war against Russia on August 1st after both parties ramped up mobilization. Demands sent to France requesting its neutrality in the conflict were met with no official response but the French military withdrew from the border and also mobilized its reserves. It appeared as though the nation were preparing for an outbreak of hostilities. Germany responded in kind and on August 2nd launched a preemptive attack on Luxembourg and on August 3rd declared war on France.

Belgium, which had declared itself neutral in the growing conflict, was invaded on the 4th after refusing passage to German troops seeking to implement the Schlieffen Plan in their assault on France. Later that night Britain responded to the violation of Belgian neutrality by declaring war on Germany, keeping their demand Belgium be kept neutral.

War had erupted on the European continent and it pitted the greatest powers against one another. While the great powers lept to toward their opponents throat a greater, diplomatic game was being played in the Balkans, the hotbed that had ignited the conflict.
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