Aph (1914) -The Balance of Power is Tipping Over

"Do you think it's possible for an entire nation to be insane?" (...) "Look, you know what I mean. You take a bunch of people who don't seem any different from you and me, but when you add them all together you get this sort of huge raving maniac with national borders and an anthem."

-'Monstrous Regiment' by Terry Pratchett

Sir Terry continues to interfere with my pictures.

The one in the middle is Serbia. You know how the story goes. The  Austro-Hungarian arch-duke was shot, much confusion followed, and then all hell broke loose.


LONG POST AHEAD:
"The Balance of Power" refers to the political situation in Europe at the turn of the century, i.e. shortly before WW1. Europe was full of empires. The idea was that all the alliances and the enormous amount of military power these empires posessed would create a "balance" where no one would dare to go to war. But a small conflict that started more or less by an accident quickly escalated as everyone were pulled in by those very same alliances.

That's the simple version. To further understand you must look at the leaderships in these nations (some were somewhat democratic, some were autocratic and out of touch with reality), the fact that secret diplomacy made it difficult to foresee the consequences of any political decision, and above all how people reasoned back then.

I originally drew this back in February, when we were studying International Relations in school. About a week ago I decided to redraw it, giving them slightly more accurate uniforms and adding all the little people at the bottom. It's always nice to see that you have improved

Axis Powers Hetalia (c) Hidekaz Himaruya