ABSTRACT
The last quarter of the nineteenth century was dominated by five superpowers representing the greatest concentrations of wealth and arrogance the world had ever seen. Foremost was Britain, paramount in finance and trade, with ships and colonies girdling the globe. France, a republic since 1870, was almost as rich; its investors and engineers had built the Suez Canal. Russia's vast land masses were being unified by a spreading railway network. The venerable Hapsburg empire, now styled Austria-Hungary, still challenged Russian expansion in the Balkans. Newest to reach the first rank was the German Empire, created after three swift, victorious wars waged by Helmuth von Moltke, the Prussian chief of staff.
