Posted on 06/28/2019 7:12:51 AM PDT by Antoninus
It is not too far-fetched to say that Christian Europe officially died on June 28, 1914. On that day, the heir to the imperial throne of Austria-Hungary and his wife were gunned down on the streets of Sarajevo. In modern parlance, we would call the assassin, 19 year-old Serbian radical Gavrilo Princip, a terrorist. His act would lead directly to the outbreak of the Great War a little over a month later.
Following is an article that appeared in The Outlook, an important New York-based political and social journal, from a week after the assassinations. It is notable that the terrible ramifications of the slaying had yet to be recognized—stories regarding the political maneuvering of Theodore Roosevelt and the situation in Mexico were given priority in this issue.
The Assassinations at SarajevoThe assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and Duchess Sophie destroyed their young family—their three children, Sophie, Maximilian and Ernst were sometimes described as the first orphans of the Great War. The assassination also led directly to the destruction of the last vestiges of Christian Europe. Considering the events that have followed up to the present, and the dark and uncertain future that Europe faces today, it is perhaps not out of place to remember these victims as signs of contradiction to the mess that liberal democracy and socialism have made of the once cultured and prosperous nations of the continent.All friends of Austria-Hungary were shocked by the murder on June 28 of the heir to the throne, the Archduke Franz Ferdinand, and his wife, the Duchess of Hohenberg. Those in exalted stations are never free from some sudden attack by some crazed man, as the cases of Lincoln and Garfield and McKinley, of King Humbert of Italy and King George of Greece, remind us.
In the present instance, murder has removed those who were about to succeed to great power. Franz Ferdinand was not a popular prince. He was reserved, taciturn, moody, opinionated, supposed to be under Jesuit control, a jingo, a militarist—not all together a happy combination. Accident made him, as the nephew of the venerable Austrian Emperor, heir to the throne. The world looked on with misgiving. For of all monarchs the Emperor of Austria-Hungary has best known how to manage the conglomeration of the many different nationalities which make up the Dual Empire. It might well be triple, as Franz Ferdinand himself suggested not long ago, the third part to be Slav.
With bitter irony, the Prince met his death at the hands of a Slav—a Serb. The Archduke and his wife were entering Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia, when a bomb was burst immediately behind their motor, shattering the motor which followed it and injuring its occupants. Moved by this circumstance, the Archduke, before replying later to the Mayor’s message of welcome, said: “An amazing indignity has been perpetrated. You have received us with bombs.” With his wife, he then drove towards the hospital to inquire after the condition of the sufferers from the bomb, when a young man sprang out of the crowd and aimed a pistol at the Duchess. Her husband immediately threw himself in front of her to shield her. The weapon used was an automatic pistol. Both occupants of the motor received mortal wounds from which they soon expired…
The tragedy gains deeper pathos because it leaves the venerable head of the house of Hapsburg (Emperor Franz Joseph) so utterly alone. His has been a life overborne by grief. A quarter of a century ago, he lost in a most tragic way, his only son. Sixteen years ago, his wife was murdered. His brother, Maximilian, became Emperor of Mexico, only to be shot there, and Carlotta, Maximilian’s wife, became an inmate of an insane asylum. The Emperor’s sister-in-law, the Duchess of Alencon, was burned to death in Paris. The Archduke John, who suddenly renounced his rank and became plain Johann Orth, disappeared. And now comes the loss of another nephew, the heir presumptive.
As the children of Franz Ferdinand’s morganatic marriage are debarred from the throne, the new heir presumptive is Charles Francis Joseph (later Blessed Karl of Austria), the son of the late Archduke Otto, who married Josefa, daughter of the late King of Saxony.
The assassination of the Archduke and his wife was followed by bloody riots at Mostar, the capital of Herzegovina, between Mohammedan Croats and the Serbs. In the attempts of the Croats (aided by Austrians) to drive the Serbs back into their own quarters many serious incendiary fires were started, which at one time threatened the destruction of the city. It was reported that in the street fighting in Mostar, over two hundred Serbs were killed. Rioting also broke out in other towns in Herzegovina.
Catholic ping.
Indeed, WWII was just a continuum of what WWI started - namely the introduction of nihilism, atheism, Neo-marxism, and collectivism in Europe. It continues today.
I’m familiar with the history, and there have been many assassinations, but the article does not say why this particular assassination is the end of European Christendom.
One of the unusual side stories to the Crown Prince....from his teens on...this guy spent a vast amount of his time hunting. The majority of an average year...he was out on hunting trips. There’s probably no one existing in the monarchy that could handle a rifle as well as this guy.
And the beginning of the emergence of the USA as a global superpower.
By the 1930’s, the Holy Roman Empire had morphed into Nazi Germany. God was officially declared dead.
Christian Europe died long before this. The rise of humanist philosophy began killing it before the French revolution.
The disintegrated mode of thought, which started with Kant, was gathering strength for decades, The products of a culture depends on its dominant mode of thought. This assassination just aggravated and sped up the disintegration of Europe.
“You have received us with bombs.”
~~~
Move Zig. For great justice!
I think the war would have happened soon in any case. Too many powers thought war was the means they needed to achieve their just destiny. One if the Emperors’ ministers had been pushing for war for years. Ironically, it was only Ferdinand standing in his way that stopped war.
Ping
I blame primarily the Russians among the Great Powers for starting the war. They had no defense treaty with Serbia whose state sponsored terrorism had drawn down the wrath of the Hapsburg Empire - yet despite that they clamored for war. Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany spoke with his cousin the Tsar and after he explained Germany could not allow the Russians to fully mobilize along his border without having to go to war (Germany’s only Defense was its ability to mobilize faster....allowing the Russians a head start would have rendered Germany defenseless in the Germans’ estimation) the Tsar assured the Kaiser he would only partially mobilize along the Hapsburg border.
Then the Russian generals told him they had no plan for partial mobilization. Yet Russia demanded war so the Tsar agreed to full scale mobilization. How does anybody think that looked to the Germans?....like the Russians had deliberately lied to them and were planning war with Germany too all along. When the Germans then asked the French if they would mobilize to attack Germany due to their treaty with Russia when it was the Russians who were starting the war, the French responded that they “would have to consult their interests”....ie that yes indeed, they would attack Germany.
That lit the fuse.
Of course, the Serbs are the ones whose government supported the terrorists even providing them the Browning model 1910 pistols they used to carry out the assassination. It’d be like the Cubans assassinating the President-Elect. Obviously no country is going to tolerate that. We wouldn’t.
No, Princip didn’t spring from the crowd...he was wandering down a street alone on his way to the river to throw himself in and drown himself...they had failed to do what they had planned...the assassination of Franz Ferdinand... and he was idealistic and despondent...
The driver of the Archduke’s car was not familiar with the streets and was lost and they werent accompanied by any guards...the Archduke had told the driver to turn around and go to the hospital to be with the wounded people, and in the confusion nobody followed them...
Princip saw the car and pulled out a gun and shot the Archduke and his wife...the wife was wearing a white dress and the blood showed up nicely...
The tragic son was Rudolph who had shot his mistress dead and then committed suicide in a mountain lodge...
Well, it triggered WWI which effectively started the decline of European imperialism, and also paved the way for the rise of Fascism, Communism, and Socialism in Europe. Those atheist systems have now replaced the old republics and monarchies in every major nation in Europe.
And the Spanish Inquisition had helped “Christian Europe?”
The Catholic church was the biggest reason “Christianity” was lost in Europe.
Protestantism was the rebirth of the Original Church, against the many more and theological failures of Catholicism.
As proof, look at the underpinnings of Central and South America versus North America (the US). It is a stark contrast from a clean slate approach, proving Catholic countries are inherent failures of despotism.
Enjoy.
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