August 1, 2014 will mark the 100th anniversary of the commencement of World War One. The United Kingdom would declare war on the 4th of August of the same year, and the United States on April 6, 1917. The causes and the results of this war had very long reaching effects that are still felt to this day both globally and regionally. It is not wished to create a chronology of events 100 years in the past during the war. These are well documented by those much more learned than I. What will be noted are those events that influenced the start of hostilities and the prosecution of the war, from June 22, 1911 to August 1, 1914.
It may be difficult, as an American, to justly commemorate these events. I have never been able to walk down a road or pasture or village that was ravaged by the physical or psychological effects of this war. I have not heard accounts from family members of those that never returned, nor the stories of a population forced to flee to another part of a continent. What I wish to relate are those prewar events that took place a hundred years ago, so that they are not forgotten.
The remembrance begins tomorrow, June 22, 2011, with the 100th anniversary of the Coronation of King George V of England.
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