Prologue:
Dawn of June 28, 1914, was breaking over Sarajevo. At the Begova Mosque, a sleepy-eyed crier groped his way around a narrow spiral staircase leading to the top of the minaret. Reaching it, he stepped out onto the balcony....

Chapter 1:
In so far as any single event can provoke a war, the assassination of the Archduke Francis Ferdinand started World War I. It was not the cause of that dreadful holocaust, however. It was only the spark that exploded the European powder keg.

The true cause of World War I was the tension that was rising among the rival imperial powers of Europe, and especially the enmity that existed between France and Germany.

In the year 1870, the Germans had humbled the French in a lightning campaign. They had forced them to pay an immense war bill and wrested from them....