Love is a battlefield
Here's an ill-judged joke from the Austrian satirical weekly Wiener Caricaturen (Viennese Caricatures). Entitled "Parallels," this cartoon invites a comparison between the rituals of erotic diplomacy and the momentous, history-altering events then unfolding. The background: On June 28, 1914 the heir to the thrones of the Dual Monarchy, Franz Ferdinand, had been assassinated in Sarajevo. Suspecting that the terrorists had received support from Serbia, Austria-Hungary issued an ultimatum to the Belgrade government, the rejection of which provoked a formal declaration of war on July 27. Over the next few days Germany, Russia, France, and Britain would be drawn into the conflict . . . .
Woman: Gentlemen, a betrothal is an ultimatum.
Bowing man: Correct; and marriage is then the outbreak of war.
Wiener Caricaturen, vol. 34 no. 32 (August, 1914), p. 8.
As Austria-Hungary would find out, peace was restored only after a painful divorce.