To understand World War One completely, you need to understand what happened before. In 1914, Europe was on the verge of modernity. The German Reich, France, Great Britain and Austria-Hungary were fighting over influence and colonies. Russia was gaining more and more power while the Ottoman Empire was only a shadow of its former self. Meanwhile, smaller nations were striving towards independence to fulfil their dream of being an sovereign state. In our first special episode about the prelude to World War 1, Indy explains what Europe was like in 1914.