For the space of a millisecond, he knew he was going to die. He looked at the gun pointed at him, at the round black hole of the barrel, the steady, sure hand that held it and the fanatical eyes of the assasin. Then, for Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir presumptive of Austria, it was over. And a war, encompassing the entire globe, had just started.
At the beginning of the 20th Century, (early 1900s) when Vincent was a young lad in short pants, absorbed in growing up with his friends and family, the world outside his tiny home village of Tallinstown, was buzzing with commerce. Globalization had become a reality, with the major European countries vieing with each other to develop their colonies. Powerful armies and navies protected their interests, and their economies were booming. The Industrial Revolution had really begun to take off, with Britain in the lead. Germany had been slow to get on the industrial bandwagon, being until relatively recently a collection of diverse states, until Bismark brought them together, under one government. France was also trying to play catch-up, tempting British engineers with good reimbusment to come over and build bridges and railroads, and to teach their own people. Yet, strangely enough, a look at the relative world economies showed the fledgling United States well in the lead, with the British economic growth down near that of China at the bottom. The British Empire was waning, though no one really appreciated that fact.
Europe had five major powers: England, France, Germany, Austria–Hungary and Russia. To the east was the Ottoman Empire, which for some time had been in decline.
Why couldn’t they just all get along together and enjoy the fruits of their labors? Unfortunately, human nature doesn’t work like that. They all feared each other, spurred on by greed. Germany and the empire of Austria-Hungary were watching on each side the powerful nations of Russia and France had formed an alliance in 1894 which guaranteed mutual protection in the event the Triple alliance of Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy attacked either one. So there was a sort of balance there, which maintained the status quo. Except for Serbia. Early in the 19th century, the Serbs had gained independence from the Ottoman empire, and in a coup in 1903, King Peter 1 came to the throne. His liberal ideas founded the beginning of a parliamentary rule which they enjoyed for several years.
The apple cart was upset when Austria-Hungary annexed the state of Bosnia, where a large part of the population was Serbian. This started a serie of plots to recover Bosnia, resulting in the assasination of Archduke Ferdinand.
Serbia, Greece, Montenegro and Bulgaria formed the Balkan League and went to war with the Ottomans in 1912–13. They won decisively and expelled that Empire from almost all of the Balkans. Austria however, strongly rejected Pan-Slavism and Serbian nationalism and was ready to make war to end those threats. Expansion of Serbia would block Austrian and German aspirations for direct rail connections to Constantinople and the Middle East. Serbia relied primarily on Russia for support. This where the national aspirations of the different players clashed, with deadly results.
To be continued.