For a tragically short time, the Spirit of the Prince of Peace drowned out the murderous demands of the State.
On August 1914, Europeâs major powers threw themselves into war with gleeful abandon. Germany, a rising power with vast aspirations, plowed across Belgium, seeking to checkmate France quickly before Russia could mobilize, thereby averting the prospect of a two-front war. Thousands of young Germans, anticipating a six-week conflict, boarded troop trains singing the optimistic refrain: âAusflug nach Paris. Auf Widersehen auf dem Boulevard.â (âExcursion to Paris. See you again on the Boulevard.â)