On August 24th, 1898, the world of international relations was struck by a bombshell.

The ruler of one of the great powers in Europe had sent a plea to his fellow emperors, kings, and presidents,

proposing an international conference to discuss arms limitations and the settling of disputes through negotiation and arbitration rather than by armed conflict and war.

The world of 1898 considers itself infinitely more advanced and sophisticated than earlier eras.

The suggestion has already been made that

war is obsolete and it is time for the nations of the world to find more civilized ways

of settling their differences. But now, for the first time, a world leader is saying it

and is proposing a conference to begin the process of making this dream into a reality.

Would you believe it if I told you that the world leader making this brave proposal is the Russian emperor Nikolai II?

Welcome to the history of the 20th century. Episode 29

Dvafin Nieder

Berta Felicitas Sophia, the Countess Kinski, was born in Prague in what was then

Austria in 1843.

Her mother, Sophia Wilhelmina von Cooner, was the 20-something daughter of a cavalry officer.

Her husband was an Austrian general officer,

Feld Marshal Leitnant Franz de Paola Josef Graf Kinski.

He was 74 years old when young Bertha was born, you devil.

The Kinski's were a bohemian aristocratic family that had risen to prominence after supporting

the Holy Roman Emperor during the 30 years war. But 200 years later, the family's fortunes had fallen.

In fact, I should have said Berta's father would have been 74 when she was born had he not died two months earlier.

Her father's pedigree was impeccable, but he was dead, and her mother came from a merely

minor aristocratic family. So, in the Austrian way, rigid, silly, and anachronistic,

...