The History Place - World War I Timeline - 1914

Czar Nicholas II, ruler of the vast Russian Empire, the world's largest nation geographically--but populated by illiterate downcast peasants controlled by an insulated and arrogant elite--all the right ingredients for revolution, historically. Below: Look-a-likes Czar Nicholas (on left) and his cousin King George of England--soon to be allies against their other cousin, Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany. Their grandmother, Queen Victoria, had dominated the royalty of old-world Europe throughout the 1800's. She presided as a level-headed matriarch, helping to preserve order among her powerful descendants. But upon her death in 1901, the royals were driven apart by pent up rivalries, pride and national ambition, a scenario that lead to the most destructive war the world had ever known, beginning in the summer of 1914.

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