Today is the 2nd anniversary of the creation of this web site, so I am going to share my favorite anecdote of all time. It is a story that changed my life. I first heard it in 6th grade at St. Rose Elementary School in Syracuse, New York. It was told by Sister Agnes. This story made me a fan of history and I went on to become a Social Studies teacher. And I put a lot of effort into making History interesting by telling interesting anecdotes. Thus, this web site traces its origin back to Sister Agnes and her love of history.
World War I should not have happened when it did. It started due to one of the worst examples of bad luck in history. Not that the war would not have occurred. All the long-term causes were in place and unavoidable. However, we would be teaching a different immediate cause if it was not for a series of remarkable moments on June 28, 1914. Here is the story of the spark that led to the deaths of more than 60 million people.
In 1908, Austria-Hungary annexed Bosnia. This caused immediate problems because there were a lot of Slavs living in the province and they did not like their minority status. Plus, bordering on Bosnia was the Slavic nation of Serbia. The Serbian government thought it would be great if Serbia united with Bosnia to create a larger Slavic nation. Franz Ferdinand was the son of Emperor Franz Joseph. He had a troubled relationship with his father over his marriage. Franz had insisted on marrying the daughter of a minor nobleman. Joseph relented, with the caveat that none of the couple’s children would ever inherit the throne. Sophie was treated miserably. For instance, at state banquets she had to sit far from her husband. But it was a love match and they had several children. What was to happen was tragic, partly because Franz would likely have been a fairly liberal ruler and had mentioned giving Bosnia more rights. Slavic nationalists could not let this happen!
In June, 1914, an opportunity to rock the boat arose when the heir to the Austrian throne was scheduled to make a trip to Bosnia to inspect military forces. A terrorist group called the Black Hand, which had connections to the Serbian government, decided to use students from the Young Bosnians (a Slavic nationalist group) to assassinate the archduke. Seven students were recruited and provided with bombs, pistols, and cyanide to commit suicide. On June 28, the Archduke and his wife were to go on a parade through the streets of Sarajevo. Since the parade route was published, the seven were able to station themselves along the route.
When the convertible reached the first assassin, he threw the bomb, but Ferdinand’s driver saw an object flying toward his car. He speeded up and the bomb actually exploded under the next car, wounding several occupants, including aides to the Archduke. The assassin took the cyanide, but it didn’t work and he was arrested. Princip heard the explosion and ran to the site. He was disappointed to see his buddy being arrested and the Archduke still very much alive. He returned to his stakeout spot and went into a nearby café to drown his sorrows. After a good bit of chaos, the parade continued to City Hall, where speeches were made. Then the parade resumed, but somewhere along this stretch the Archduke decided he wanted to abort the parade and go to the hospital to see his wounded aides. Before the driver could be made aware of the change, he had made a turn on the parade route. Franz yelled at the driver to back up and go to the hospital. The driver pulled to a stop in front of the café. Princip heard a commotion and turned to see the Archduke sitting in the middle of the road. After rubbing his eyes, Princip walked up to the backing-up car and fired a shot that hit the Archduke in the neck. His arm was grabbed so the second shot accidentally hit Sophie in the stomach. Princip was arrested as the car rushed to the hospital. Franz begged Sophie to “stay alive for the children”. She died on the way and Franz died at the hospital. Princip was sentenced to 20 years in prison. He avoided death because he was three weeks too young. He died in 1918 of tuberculosis. He did not live to see his dream of a larger Slavic nation (Yugoslavia) being achieved. But he must have known that his action had started a huge war. But it wouldn’t have started in 1914 if the Archduke’s driver had not taken a wrong turn and stopped in front of a certain café. Never underestimate the role of luck in history.
https://www.history.com/news/the-assassination-of-archduke-franz-ferdinand
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_Archduke_Franz_Ferdinand
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