"You have received us with bombs" Assassination of Franz Ferdinand and the end of Christian Europe

Gloria Romanorum ^ | June 28, 2018 | Florentius

[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 Sarajevo

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.

The 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.

[DesertRhino]

Ferdinand was a dictator called a monarch. He wasn’t voted into office. Anyone who calls himself a monarch should expect it when someone removes them from office in the only way possible.

[Antoninus]

I think the war would have happened soon in any case.

Very possible. That said, the way it went down was an absolute tragedy. Certainly no one expected the Great War to take the course it did -- a horrible, blood-soaked meat-grinder that destroyed an entire generation of Europe's best and brightest young men. Had the leaders of Europe known, how many would have cut their losses in the summer of 1914?

[newfreep]

n modern parlance, we would call the assassin, 19 year-old Serbian radical Gavrilo Princip

Another godless muzzoid terrorist?

[Antoninus]

Protestantism was the rebirth of the Original Church, against the many more and theological failures of Catholicism.

Just stop. Almost nobody actually believes that Christianity didn't exist for 1,500 years until a few Germans and Swiss figured it out correctly. The argument is silly.

[Antoninus]

Ferdinand was a dictator called a monarch. He wasn’t voted into office. Anyone who calls himself a monarch should expect it when someone removes them from office in the only way possible.

I have never been a fan of monarchy, preferring the Republican form of government. However, seeing how our own republic has crumbled disastrously before our eyes over my lifetime, the idea of a benign Christian monarchy tempered with a parliament doesn't seem so awful anymore.

[who_would_fardels_bear]

How is Kant’s thought “disintegrated”? His theories, whether right or wrong, were highly organized and integrated.

[Antoninus]

Another godless muzzoid terrorist?

Not muslim. Princip was a Serbian nationalist whose evil act precipitated nearly 10 million deaths.

[miliantnutcase]

Russians have always loved war

[pepsi_junkie]

On both a political level and, as you say, a cultural one, WW2 was absolutely just the second chapter of WW1. They all took a pause to grow a new generation of young men to feed to the meat grinder and then it was right back at it fighting explicitly over grievances from the end of WW1.

In those 50 years, Europe began to end.

[Reily]

Are you confusing Crown Prince Rudolph with Grand Duke Franz Ferdinand?. After the Crown Prince’s suicide - Mayerling incident

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayerling_incident

Franz Ferdinand became the heir.

He was thoroughly disliked by the Emperor Franz Josef I.

I have seen historians describe Franz Ferdinand as a “liberal”. He would have evolved the Austrian Empire to a sort of United States of Austria under a imperial system. Other historian say that’s myth!

If so one of history’s great “wtah ifs”!

[Truthsearcher]

As GK Chesterton said “We worship a God that knows the way out of the grave”.

[Gen.Blather]

Given the colossal egos involved, I think that all of the leaders, with certain foreknowledge, would have still embarked on war; certain that THIS time they would win. After all, there was honor and chivalry at stake. They all thought of war as something noble. They had a mindset and world view that is hard to fathom today.

There was a wonderful series on YouTube called
“The Great War,” that followed the war week by week.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrCOKVnBxBM

[Campion]

proving Catholic countries are inherent failures of despotism

Oh, horse puckey. You're cherry-picking a bunch of Latin American countries, all of which have a similar culture and history even excluding religion. All them are not "inherent failures of despotism," either. Costa Rica is certainly not. Chile is arguably not. Colombia is arguably not.

Now consider countries that are not Latin American, but still Catholic. Poland, despite being occupied by foreigners for much of its history, was reasonably prosperous until war and Marxism, imposed from outside, changed that. Malta is hardly an "inherent failure of despotism". Czechoslovakia, which was majority Catholic, had the highest standard of living in Europe before the war.

[Antoninus]

Oh, horse puckey. You're cherry-picking a bunch of Latin American countries, all of which have a similar culture and history even excluding religion.

It should also be pointed out that many of those "Catholic" countries in Latin America went through long periods where they were ruled by elites who weren't exactly Catholics. In Mexico, for example, Masons who persecuted Catholics dominated the government for decades.

[newfreep]

Thanks...but I was asking what was his religious background - not if he was a Serbian nationalist.

Muzzoid?
Christian?

[Mrs. Don-o]

Bkmk for later, careful reading.

[Campion]

Nominally Serbian Orthodox, but he was a terrorist and a nihilist in real life.

[Antoninus]

but I was asking what was his religious background - not if he was a Serbian nationalist.

His family was Orthodox Christian, but if you read what Princip thought in his own words, he sounds very much like the only things that mattered in his life were Slav nationalism and European secular socialism. Read for yourself.

Gavrilo Princip Speaks: 1916 Conversations with Martin Pappenheim

[TheConservativeTejano]

And the beginning of the emergence of the USA as a global superpower.

Partner, this is a great point and the USA helped Europe to get out of the Trench Warfare in Europe to freedom in approx. one (1) year after the US troops landed in England.

World War I armistice was signed on Nov. 11th on the 11th hour in 1918. BTW, this is Veteran's Day in the U.S.A.

[nwrep]

Agree. Kant was very rational and organized. That said, his Categorical Imperative untethered morality from Christianity.