Europe stands upon a knife edge. The dawn of a new century has brought with it mechanized armies and fleets of dreadnoughts that have changed the face of warfare. Combined with national fervour and an increasingly complex web of diplomatic alliances, the fate of the whole theatre hangs perilously on the efforts of each country’s diplomatic corp. Will they prevent outright war and usher in a new age of peace for the major nations of Europe? Will they toffee. Here is a precis of the situation for each major power at the start of 1901.