Coffee on the Sidewalk

I was enjoying a cup of coffee while sitting at a table on the sidewalk outside my local Starbucks and feeling inspired. Mind wandering to a conversation that I had with a friend the other day about the events leading up to the first World War. Very few people remember that it was a complicated set of political issues and alliances that caused the conflict.

The event that set everything in motion, of course, was the assassination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand in the streets of Sarajevo. A young Serbian nationalist named Gavrilo Princip shot and killed Ferdinand and his wife. This set off a chain of events that led to the brutal and ugly conflict, consuming Europe.

My coffee, however, was excellent.