It spread because of France’s Alliance with Russia.
That war was a fire looking for a spark. The assassination was an excuse, not the cause.
Princip looked like the kind of punk who you'd find smoking dope at the arcade with the other dirtball yardapes.
So it’s Russia and Belarus vs all of Europe?
German Chancellor Theobold Bethmann-Hollweg, when asked by Prince von Bulow how World War I began, replied,
“Oh, if we only knew.”
https://networks.h-net.org/group/28443/discussions/12889803/query-kennedy-guns-august-quote
VON BULOW: “At last, I said to him: ‘Well, tell me, at least, how it all happened.’ He (Bethmann-Hollweg) raised his long, thin arms to heaven and answered in a dull, exhausted voice: ‘Oh — if we only knew!’
In many later polemics on ‘war-guilt’ I have often wished it had been possible to produce a snapshot of Bethmann-Hollweg standing there at the moment he said those words.”
That is a very very simplistic explanation.
I had the same thought.
Yeah, but Europe is not a rats nest of inbred royals these days. I think we are fine.
It was the assassination of the hier to an important throne, nit the attempted assassination of the head of government of a minor state
For reference...just an odd part of this story...Crown-Prince Ferdinand was actually the 3rd Crown-Prince and was not supposed to be in line for the King’s job.
Crown-Prince number one...Rudoph was set to be the guy, and was actually married. Somewhere around 1887, he got tangled up in a sexed-up relationship with a 17-year-old Baroness and was overly consumed with her. About a year into this relationship...his handlers told him to drop it. He couldn’t. He ended up at some hunting lodge...with the lover...and both committed suicide.
Set to be next king was Karl Ludwig, but he ended up with Typhoid Fever, and died.
So Ferdinand was stuck with the job. Interesting thing about him....from his teens, he was consumed with passion for hunting. He probably averaged 300 days a year on hunts throughout Europe. I doubt if you could find anyone in Europe who was more capable with a rifle than this guy.
IMHO Austrian Intelligence knew about the assassination plot and (for reasons of their own) decided not to just ignore it, but to actively help, by printing the Archduke’s route in the paper and ensuring there was only a skeleton police force on duty.
Would this happen to be an Op-Ed by a world leader?
Yup, and WW2 started when a crazy leader said he wanted to protect his people in another country, regain historic lands and then using that pretext, invaded a neighboring country.
Imagine, that happening today.
The continent of Europe is in a constant state of war.
Better for us to stay out of it.
Thomas Jefferson
The continent of europe was at war when Jesus Christ was born. It will still be at war when our great grandchildren are old and grey.
Better for us to stay out of it
A squabble between the grand children of Queen Victoria. It caused a world war.
This kicked off due to the Kaiser of Germany giving Austria a blank check to do what ever they wanted before heading out on a 4 month cruise.