The Powder Keg

CHAPTER 1 · JUNE–AUGUST 1914 · The Great War, 1914–1918

Look at the map before anything moves: two armed blocs already drawn. Charcoal in the center — Germany and Austria-Hungary, allied since 1879; blue around the rim — France and Russia, allied since 1894, with Britain attached to both by “ententes” that promised consultation, not war. Europe had been at peace for forty-three years, and its general staffs had spent every one of them writing railway timetables for the war they expected. That is the trap: mobilization is not a threat, it is the first act of the war plan — Germany’s plan in particular begins with an attack on France through Belgium,

The turn: Sarajevo, 28 June 1914.

This chapter is one scene of an interactive atlas: the map repaints as the dates advance, campaigns draw themselves, and every chapter argues its causes and consequences — then a field exam asks you to prove it on the map.