»1906«. Der Zusammenbruch der alten Welt

The author reconstructs the events and causes of a cataclysmic 1906 conflict that begins with an incident in Samoa and rapidly engulfs Europe and overseas territories, examining diplomatic miscalculations, naval mobilizations, colonial unrest, and the cascading reactions across Washington, Petersburg and Tokio. Through a sequence of milestone episodes and on-the-ground vignettes—such as life in Apia and encounters between merchants, colonial officials and naval officers—the narrative traces how local skirmishes, parliamentary decisions, and imperial rivalries escalate into global war, describes the human and material devastation, and outlines the political and logistical challenges of postwar rebuilding.