When the Austro-Hungarian Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated, it set off a chain reaction resulting in the First World War.

The war was fully anticipated by most countries, and one of the belligerent countries, countries Germany had a plan in their back pocket

ready to go. It was a highly detailed plan nine years in the making which was

designed to give them a swift victory. Learn more about the Schleifen Plan and why it didn't work on this episode of

everything everywhere daily. Book your ticket to happiness with Sun Express Airlines. One of the most remarkable things about the First World War is that everyone saw it coming.

While no one knew when it would start or what would be the trigger,

all the parties involved knew that such a war was eventually going to happen.

The Germans saw the writing on the wall almost a decade before the war started.

Most of the alliances which were put into play for the First World War were developed in the aftermath of the Franco-Prussian War of

1870 and 1871. During this war, which was really the last major war of the

19th century, Prussia defeated France taking the border territory known

as Alsace Lorraine.

It also indirectly led to the creation of a new country called Germany, which was a union of

Prussia, Bavaria, and a few smaller German-speaking states.

France, seeing this new unified Germany,

posing an even greater threat than just Prussia,

signed a treaty with Russia in 1894,

which stipulated that an attack on one country would be an attack on both.

Both countries saw Germany as a threat,

and their alliance was used to put Germany in the position of having to fight a two-front war

should they choose to be belligerent.

It was this strategic reality that the chief of staff of the German Army, Field Marshal

...