Posted on 06/28/2014 9:07:15 AM PDT by DeoVindiceSicSemperTyrannis
was like something from a film - what started as a farce ended as a tragedy. When Archduke Franz Ferdinand arrived in Sarajevo on June 28 1914, someone threw a bomb at him but it missed.
Gavrilo Princip was meant to shoot him there and then but couldn’t get a clear shot. So he went to sulk in a café instead.
It was only when Ferdinand’s car later went down the same street by the same café and got stuck in the road - that Princip took his chance and shot the Archduke dead.
But what if Princip had missed? Would 16 million people have survived instead of perishing in the trenches in the Great War?
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
That way millions of people would have been spared their lives.
War would probably have been delayed. The archduke was apparently very opposed to provoking a war and had he survived, would have used his influence to prevent it. Certainly when he would have succeeded the throne in 1916 he would have done his best to keep Austria out of it. However, Germany was positively spoiling for a fight. They knew France wanted Alsace Lorraine back, and they knew it was only a matter of time before a rapidly industrialising Russia caught up with and then surpassed Germany. Moltke and the Kaiser wanted this war to happen sooner rather than later whilst they perceived that Germany still had the advantage.
With all due respect, I'm not sure you are giving proper consideration to the power of good recon.
Notwithstanding the Thracian's poor flying skills, the Cub is a fairly easy aircraft for beginners to pilot. That said, a few quick sorties on the morning of the engagement might have revealed Mummius' flanking movement and changed the course of the battle.
Even if the Thracians were routed and driven southward, Crassus' delay in pursuit would have given Spartacus ample time to ferry his troops, one by one on the plane, to Sicily where they could have regrouped and carried on their raids from the safety of the island.
In short, the war would have certainly lasted many more months.
Franz Ferdinand shot in neck - bullet severed juglar vein
bled to death
Wife Sophie Von Chotek-Hapsburg shot in stomach
On June 28, 1914, Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife, Sophie, were murdered by Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip in Sarajevo. The assassination set off a chain of events that led to the outbreak of the First World War in Europe and affirmed famed German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck’s prediction that the next great war would start because of some “foolish thing in the Balkans.”
The chessboard diplomacy that followed in the next month before hostilities broke out is brilliantly chronicled by military historian Gordon Martel in his book, The Month That Changed the World: July 1914. Focusing on the decisions of heads of state and ambassadors, as well as military men of the European countries involved, Martel posits that war was not inevitable as many historians have claimed.
This UK twerp is merely reiterating the mantra that the individual doesn’t matter, and (also part of the commie line) that there’s inevitability built right in to history.
A five year delay could have meant no war; the royal house in Germany was teetering (perhaps due to the crazy genes passed down from the British royals) earlier in the 20th c. The czar of Russia (another descendant) was (like his grandfather) facing the rise of political radicals, and his empire still occupied Finland and Poland, so continued apparent political stability might be seen as unlikely.
The biggest single cause was the sidelining and death of Otto von Bismarck, who’d built a masterpiece of a treaty system that kept eastern European powers at peace with each other while cooperating in the dismantling of the Ottoman Empire in Europe, and diplomatically isolating the military giant in western Europe — France.
But despite that, Wilhelm II pushed diplomatically for the Berlin to Baghdad railroad, which ran right through Turkish territory and ruffled the feathers of the czar and the UK. Despite that, Russia agreed, and a few years later, right on the eve of the Great War, so did the UK.
The rail wasn’t completed until 1940.
No fuel, no flight.
Jeff:
Yep. Fabrique National, chambered in .38. My father had the identical gun in .32, which he used for espionage work after WWII. Said he always liked it because it was reliable, small and thin (no lump under a suit jacket), and no sights (so it didn’t snag in the holster or pocket).
Proves once again that John Moses Browning, who designed it (like most everything else), was one of the most consequential figures of the last century.
.380 ACP. So if anyone tells you that .380 is under-powered, tell him to talk to Franz Ferdinand.
Actually they both survived the assassination attempt, recovered and were found living on the Cote Azure in 1922. WW1 was a mistake.
LOL
This is hugh and series!
The Duke's bloody outer coat still exists, and many investigators that have seen it said the blood stains are totally inconsistent with the events as reported. There are also numerous eye witnesses that claim they saw Sophie walk from the car holding her upper arm. The Archduke was reported alive and his death was not reported for some time. The Austro-Hungarian later said this was out of respect to the family, but that is nonsense.
There is absolutely no doubt that the Austro-Hungarian elite did not like him and REALLY did not like his wife. They may well have had a hand in setting the entire thing up. A wounded Archduke or a grieving widow were of no use to their plans. A 'beloved' leader and his 'valiant wife trying to defend him' both being killed was the story they wanted - and got.
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