Europe Before the War
In 1910, the funeral of King Edward VII brought together the crowned heads of Europe in one last grand display of the old order. Kings, emperors, and princes rode in ceremony through London, representing a world that still believed family ties and royal manners could steady politics. Yet beneath the glitter, Europe had already changed. Rival alliances, growing armies, and deep distrust had made the continent far more dangerous than it looked.
Germany felt this change most sharply. During Edward’s reign, Britain had moved away from isolation and toward understanding with France and Russia. German leaders saw these shifts not as a balance against danger, but as a scheme to surround and weaken them. This fear of encirclement became one of the strongest forces in German thinking and helped turn every diplomatic setback into a grievance.
At the center of this tension stood Kaiser Wilhelm II, emotional, impulsive, and eager for Germany to be admired and feared. He wanted Britain’s respect, yet his actions often pushed Britain away. His support for a large navy, his bursts of reckless speech, and his habit of treating world affairs as personal drama made him a source of instability. Germany was powerful, ambitious, and insecure all at once.
Across Europe, many still believed modern trade and finance made a great war unlikely. Others thought exactly the opposite. Military writers and generals argued that war was not only possible but necessary, and that a nation that waited too long would lose everything. By the years before 1914, governments were still speaking the language of diplomacy, but their armies were preparing for a test they increasingly assumed would come.
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