The wealthiest and most advanced civilization the world has ever known.
It simply shriveled on the vine, then was burned to ash.
Civilizational suicide in the space of four years.
These jerks lived pretty good on the labor of millions of slaves. Slaves they marched into machine guns by the millions. They viewed those peasants as livestock.
The what ifs are many. If The Archduke’s car does not turn up the wrong street...if Whilhelm’s and Nicholas’ phone call results in both seeing the stupidity of going to war... If the Christmas Truce spreads from the North Sea to Switzerland causing the leaders to think about what they were doing.
1913 may have been a pathway to a bright future. You could travel by rail from Madrid to Moscow with no need for a passport. Philosophy and Science were on the brink of great developments. The New World was only beginning to cast its shadow in business and industry. And then the car took that wrong turn.