The Guns of August, Prelude to War, 1914

The beginning of World War I is the story of many things. It is a story of imperial rivalry, the collapse of the balance of power system, and of powerful alliances. For the sake of our committee, we will be focusing on how these factors informed the decisions made by an interconnected web of elites through combatant nations. This will include family rivalries, personal vendettas, and quixotic characters representing the best and (primarily) the worst of humanity. While it is possible to trace the genesis of WWI in a linear fashion, it does a disservice to the maelstrom and chaos which characterized the early precessions. For this committee it is my hope to provide the conditions for this avalanche of events to unfold and to create a dynamic and fun environment for engaging debate and imaginative backroom arcs.