The Great War: 100 Years Later, Borders and Kaisers in Europe Are Gone

Bratislava-Jarovce border crossing into Slovakia

Today, much of Europe – 28 states in all – are part of the European Union, and 22 of these countries are part of the Schengen Area, a region in which internal border controls, including passport checks, have been eliminated. On the continent, all of the European powers in the Great War except for England are a part of this zone, which functions as a single country for travel purposes and has a common visa policy.

Last week, I drove from Munich, Germany to Vienna, Austria, and then to Bratislava, Slovakia. In most cases, I knew I had crossed a border only by virtue of the small blue European Union sign with the name of the country I was entering. Only going in and out of Slovakia was there a reminder, at the Bratislava-Jarovce crossing, where a massive blue structure spans the Autobahn (European route E58), marking the place where my passport was checked many times when I was a child and driving with my parents.

The elimination of border controls and the right for an EU citizen to move freely throughout much of Europe has changed the face of the continent in many respects, as much as any of the great wars did.

Even when I was a student living in Munich, there were long wait times to cross the border into Austria when I would drive home to Vienna (and Bayern 3 traffic reports would faithfully inform its listeners of the delays).

The 100th anniversary of the Archduke’s assassination comes at a time when many are wondering if American and European supremacy is on the wane, given the rise of China and the rise of nationalism in parts of Europe and Russia. The end of the First World War and the Treaty of Versailles, which many view as having been designed more to punish the Germans than to prevent another conflagration, were followed by another great war, a cold war, a moment in time when Russia and the United States engaged in brinkmanship and came close to nuclear war, and a period of glasnost, or openness, in the Soviet Union that led to the fall of the Iron Curtain.

The First World War was indeed the first modern war, featuring tanks, submarines, torpedoes, chemical weapons, and radio communications. Airplanes were also used, first for observation, and later for aerial combat, and led to numerous innovations in medicine and daily life, ranging from the wrist watch to new ways of preventing infection in the operating room.

Despite such a mixed inheritance, the impact of the war to end all wars continues to this very day and is evidenced in the 75th anniversary of the start of the Second World War this year as well as the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.

(Photo: Accura Media Group)

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