100 years ago today, the Archduke
Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian empire, went to one of its
outposts, Sarajevo, to inspect the army. He had married his wife, a mere
countess, in the teeth of opposition from his family, and she was banned from
sitting at his side on ceremonial occasions – except when he was acting in his
capacity as a field marshal of the army.
So on June 28, 1914, she rode with
him in his open top car as a group of Bosnian nationalists lay in wait. One
of them threw a grenade, but it hit the car behind. The Archduke insisted on
going to the hospital to visit the injured, but no one told the drivers of the
motorcade.
In the confusion that resulted, they found
themselves having to back up into a narrow street where they came to a stop
outside a café. Sitting inside was 19 year old Gavrilo Princip, one of the conspirators, who had gone there after the apparent failure of their plot. He
crossed the street and shot Franz Ferdinand and his wife, who both died.
37 days later the first World War
began, a conflict that cost the lives of perhaps 10 million military personnel
and 7 million civilians. Nobody much wanted the archduke’s assassination to
lead to a world war, but a series of bad decisions by politicians brought
precisely that outcome. Princip was sentenced to 20 years in prison. In harsh conditions, he died of tuberculosis six months before Armistice Day.
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