War Loose on Europe

98 years ago today, the first battle of the Great War began.

The day before, those United States had declared neutrality. The same day, the United Kingdom declared war on Germany.

The night before, Sir Edward Grey had given a speech in the House of Commons about the lamps going out all over Europe. That was the day Imperial Germany and the Third French Republic declared war on each other.

Yet two days before that again, the empires of Russia and Germany had declared war on each other.

In less than ten days after the declaration of war on the Kingdom of Serbia made in Bad Ischl, a full-scale European war was loose.