Fourteen- year-old Tanya Antonova is from Bulgaria but has been studying in London. During the summer holidays together with her classmates she went to an educational trip to the English and German cemeteries in Belgium. The Commonwealth has set the objective of making teenagers acquainted with the Tyne Cot Cemetery and Langemark on the occasion of the First World War Centenary. Children have the task to find the names of their relatives in military cemeteries and write about their impressions on the subject of: "Remembering the Past: World War I."

In her essay she wrote: "Until a week ago I had only basic knowledge of the war, but what I learned shocked me to the core. On the first day of the trip we listened to military songs. I really love hard rock and it was an interesting experiment for me ... On the way back from the cemetery, I looked at it silently and a number of questions arose in my mind, but I could find no answers. How come thousands of innocent soldiers were buried in such a beautiful place? ... We went to the church where Adolf Hitler was treated for his wounds. We stayed in a room where a mass murderer stayed ... I felt so disappointed with humanity, because I realized that I hate walking on one's bones and blood ... I realized that wars continue across the world."

The anger of Tanya Antonova is sincere, but she could not find out at the cemetery that the epidemic of national and territorial claims swept over Europe a hundred years ago. Ironically, today similar processes can be noticed in Eastern Europe. There are no literal repetitions in history but analogies exist.

In 1914, France wanted Alsace and Lorraine. Austria-Hungary had territorial claims towards Serbia, Montenegro, Romania, and Russia. Great Britain longingly looked at the oil fields in Turkey and wanted to destroy Germany - its main commercial rival on the continent. Italy dreamt of expanding its influence on the Balkans.

Russia wanted Constantinople for the Orthodox world.

Back then it was Germany that had most territorial claims. It claimed lands in France, Belgium, today's Ukraine and the Baltic republics.

By August all European countries were so belligerent that a single terrorist in Sarajevo managed to spark the war.

100 years have passed since then. The main conclusion is that World War I later brought a second world carnage - the most ambitious and bloodiest in the history of mankind. After that Europe wanted to make sure to create formal safeguards against similar turn of events. One of the institutional guarantors became the European Union, although similar guarantees already partly existed – the Helsinki meeting in 1975 proclaimed the inviolability of postwar borders.

The Ukrainian crisis, however, let the spirit out of the bottle. Today the southeast of Ukraine is in a state of chaotic war resembling mafia battles and true “Makhnoshchina” (Nestor Ivanovych Makhno - leader of Free Territory). The current war will inevitably cause an influx of refugees from Ukraine. Europeans need to realize that next to the EU borders there is already a country in the state of economic collapse and civil war that calls for easing the EU visa regime.

In Moldova a census sponsored by Romania has begun. It aims to find out how many of the residents of Moldova consider themselves Romanians. Articles in the Moldovan press have already appeared, reading that Moldovan Romanians will receive a free sea vacation.

Romania's President Basescu has repeatedly stated that he considered a priority uniting Moldova and Romania. This "project" has not been welcomed by a number of Moldovan citizens - Gagauz, Bulgarians and citizens of the northern part of the country.

On the eve of the First World War Centenary it is all about how new borders will be created. Will borders be changed peacefully or violently? Germany united peacefully and two new states emerged from Czechoslovakia. The Russians “took back” the Crimea, having full support from the residents of the peninsula. It is quite possible that on the map of Old Europe two new states may emerge - Scotland and Catalonia. In the Balkans, however, the birth of new countries has  always been preceded by civil wars and ethnic cleansing.

English: Alexander Markov

* The opinion of the author may not necessarily coincide with the stance of this media outlet