Europe Before the Storm: Power, Empire, and Anxiety Before 1914

This lesson introduces Europe before 1914 as a continent shaped by power politics, imperial competition, social anxiety, and confidence in progress. Rather than treating World War I as inevitable, it explains the conditions that made a major crisis increasingly dangerous.

Students will examine the major powers, the balance of power, empire, nationalism, militarism, and the fears that influenced leaders and publics before the July Crisis. The focus is on the prewar environment, setting up later lessons on alliances, Balkan crises, and the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand.