by Stephen Yellin
I have written about 2 major milestones in the march to World War I in the last 2 weeks: the 100th anniversaries of the murder of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wifeby a Serbian terrorist in Sarajevo and the issuing of the “blank check” by Germany to its Austrian ally in the assassination’s aftermath. With both governments publically maintaining silence it appeared that the initial concerns of war over the Archduke’s murder were unfounded. Other European leaders and the civilian population turned their attention elsewhere.
And there was much to be paid attention to. The notion that Europe prior to the outbreak of war 1914 was at peace or that its citizens were innocently concerned with material things is a myth. The truth is that Europe in 1914 was in turmoil if not outright war. Violent strikes, militant suffragettes, a particularly shocking political sex scandal and more were in the news 100 years ago this month, as was the increasing likelihood of civil war in Great Britain. A “general European war” was not.
In this article I will touch on several of the major “current events” stories of 1914 that were overshadowed by the “breaking news” of late July 1914.