Europe early in the 20th Century was, as Barbara Tuchman states in her landmark book The Guns of August, "a heap of swords piled as delicately as jackstraws; one could not be pulled out without moving the others." For several decades, a complex system of alliances and treaties kept an uneasy peace. The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austrian-Hungarian throne, by Serbian nationalists on June 28, 1914, provided the catalyst. Austria declared war on Serbia on July 28 and bombarded Belgrade on July 29. A series of ultimatums followed, culminating with Germany invading Belgium on August 4 in its race to get to France.
To mark the beginning of the Great War, this virtual exhibit presents photographs from the High Point Historical Society's collection of men and women who served.
