re: 100 Years Ago Today The World Went Mad

That link was very informative.

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So if the whole assassination thing hadn't gone down is it pretty much agreed that the war would've been avoided or is it thought that tensions in Europe were high enough that it still would've happened eventually?

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Great question. Any answer to it though is pure soeculation. I do think there was going to eventually be a continental war in the early 20th century sooner or later. However I think what made this one so horrible was the fact that Great Britain joined in (thanks to a very old treaty with Belgium). Had the Britsh not got involved it's very likely the war would have lasted no more than a year with Germany and Austria winning a limited war over France and Russia. And while there would have been sim redrawing of the map in Europe (and probably some colonies switching hands) the fundamental system in Europe would not have been swept away as it was in the real WWI. In short, the Victorian Age would have probably lasted well into the 20th century and perhaps to this day.

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I'm going to guess it would have happened anyway. What I don't get is Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia (and Russia) to the east. But why did Germany just say ok, great you're my ally Austria-Hungary, and you're at war with Serbia/Russia, so.... frick you France!

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Good question. Basically what happened there is a result of treaty obligations coupled with long held political stances. First off you've got Serbia trying to destabilize Austria's grip over Slavic land in the Balkans. Along with this you've got the Russians who have long been the "champions" of the Slav people. Add in on top of that the fact that Russia has a close alliance with France. On the other side you've got Germany allied with Austria. When one goes to war, the other will come to its aid.

So when The Austrian heir to the throne is killed by a Serb, Austria prepares for war with Serbia. This causes Russia to begin mobilizing for war. Germany meanwhile is treaty bound to help Austria. Germany also knows that Russia will be helped by France. If you look at a map of Europe, you'll see this is a problem for Germany as they sit right between those two countries. This the Germans have to have a plan to deal with this or they face a two front war. The plan thru cane up with was to knock France out if the war quick before Russia could complete her mobilization. Once France was out if the war, Germany could focus on Russia and thus win the war. This war between Austria and Serbia meant also war between Germany, Russia and France. Make sense?

The Great War.

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But why did Germany just say ok, great you're my ally Austria-Hungary, and you're at war with Serbia/Russia, so.... frick you France!

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The Schlieffen Plan designed by General Count Alfred von Schlieffen.

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But why did Germany just say ok, great you're my ally Austria-Hungary, and you're at war with Serbia/Russia, so.... frick you France!

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The Schlieffen Plan designed by General Count Alfred von Schlieffen.

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Exactly. Once mobilization began in one country, the others had little choice other than follow suit or risk being attacked while unprepared for war. German was especially on the clock due to the fact as per the Schlieffen Plan they had about 6 weeks to knock France out of the war before Russia could mobilize her massive reserves. Basically, once mobilization began the politicians were powerless to stop the process. After that the process was essentially on auto-pilot with the only concerns being railroad schedules and the movement of troops to first mobilization points and then to the frontiers.

The photo of the German airplanes features fighters of the Albatros type.

This is a photo of the Red Baron's fighter group. His Albatros is the second one from the front. It has a red fuselage and tail with earth-tone camouflage wing surfaces.

The photo is most probably from late spring, 1917.

The Red Baron, Manfred von Richtofen, flew only briefly in an all-red airplane. The final airplane that he flew was almost all-red -- the tail rudder was white with the German straight cross (not curved "maltese" cross".

WWI bugs me because it was completely avoidable and unnecessary.

Does anyone know of any hard facts supporting a claim of a Pvt. Henry Tandey, who supposedly came face to face with a young Adolf Hitler on the battlefield, had him in his rifle sights, and let him live?