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Technology bred fear before 1914
A technological revolution
The world around 1900 went through a technological revolution the like of which it hadn't seen up to then: the telephone, the telegraph, railways, steamships, and the first aircraft. People weren't able to handle it. The situation now with AI and other technological transformations is very similar.
Connection became fear
Instead of creating a better connected world, those technologies filled people with fear that others would take advantage of them, especially in military terms, and turn them against their enemies better than they could.
Fear in July 1914
That debilitating fear, very much dependent on technology, was in the air as things began to move toward war at the end of July 1914.
How did railways shape the 1914 war plans?
Armies in 1914 depended on trains to move millions of men to the frontiers, and the timetables were drawn up years ahead. Germany's army staff had a railway section that planned troop movements down to the hour. Once a country mobilized, its trains were committed to those schedules, so stopping and restarting was hard to do. Russia's large mobilization was a specific worry for German planners because of how many men it could bring west.
Why did the telegraph speed up the crisis?
Messages that once took days to cross a continent arrived within hours or minutes. Diplomats, ministers, and monarchs could react to each new development almost immediately, which shortened the time for cool judgment. From the assassination on 28 June 1914 to Germany's declaration of war on Russia on 1 August was 34 days. Wilhelm and Nicholas were still exchanging telegrams as that last stretch ran out.
How did early aircraft worry military planners?
The Wright brothers made the first powered flights in 1903. Within a decade, armies were testing aeroplanes for scouting and bombing. In 1911, during the Italo-Turkish War in Libya, an Italian pilot carried out what is generally cited as the first bombing from an aeroplane. Britain, France, and Germany were all building air units before the war began.
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