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Pistol found that killed 8.5 million people
Chicago Sun-Times ^ | June 22, 2004 | KATE CONNOLLY

Posted on 06/22/2004 10:07:58 AM PDT by Chi-townChief

BERLIN -- The Browning pistol that killed Archduke Franz Ferdinand and sparked the crisis leading to World War I has been discovered gathering dust in a Jesuit community house in Austria.

The weapon is going on display in the Vienna Museum of Military History in time for the 90th anniversary of the assassination of the heir to the Austrian empire and his wife, Sophie. Gavrilo Princip, a student from Belgrade, fired seven shots as they were driven through Sarajevo on June 28, 1914.

The shooting led to World War I, which by one estimate resulted in 8.5 million deaths.

For decades the murder weapon, serial number 19074, was in the possession of a community of Jesuits in Styria, southern Austria. They inherited it from a close friend of the archduke and his wife.

A Jesuit priest, Anton Puntigam, gave the couple the last rites and later made public his intention of opening a museum in memory of the archduke. But the chaos of the war foiled his plans.

On the priest's death in 1926, the objects were offered to the archduke's family, which declined to take them. They remained out of sight until recent publicity about the 90th anniversary.

Daily Telegraph


TOPICS: Extended News; Foreign Affairs; Germany; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: austria; balkans; bang; banglist; wwi
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To: freedomlover

Yeah, they better have Arlen "Scottish Law/Not Proven/Magic Bullet" Specter.


61 posted on 06/22/2004 2:21:24 PM PDT by TheErnFormerlyKnownAsBig (You can turn your head away from the Berg video and still hear Al Queda's calls to prayer.)
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To: nmh; Shooter 2.5
"Inanimate objects are neither good nor bad."

Well, there was that tiz over some guy wanting to buy the estate of Jeff Dahlmer, and put his cooking utensils on display.

62 posted on 06/22/2004 2:22:10 PM PDT by Calvin Locke
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To: goldstategop
If the Archduke had never been assassinated, we would be living in a very different world today, one in which Fascism and Nazism and Communism would be mere words in a dictionary instead of affecting hundreds of millions of lives.

WWI was going to happen sooner or later. The underlying causes were in place. The Archduke's assasination is what you would call the "proximate cause" of an otherwise inevitable conflict.

63 posted on 06/22/2004 2:42:16 PM PDT by Tallguy (Liberals make my head hurt...)
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To: Junior
The line-up might have been different, though. France and Great Britain were about ready to cut each other's throats (c.f. the Fashoda Incident) -- and the Kaiser had familial ties with the British Royal Family.

The British-German naval arms race is really a function of the Kaiser's desire to have a fleet for its own sake. A different Kaiser might not have built the High Seas Fleet, and in so doing, antagonized the British.

64 posted on 06/22/2004 2:46:45 PM PDT by Tallguy (Liberals make my head hurt...)
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To: goldstategop
If the Archduke had never been assassinated, we would be living in a very different world today, one in which Fascism and Nazism and Communism would be mere words in a dictionary instead of affecting hundreds of millions of lives. So yes, one human life is as important as a billion.

I don't know about that -- the roots of the war had been bubbling in the Balkans since at least 1912 (the two Balkan Wars), not to mention the effects of German militarization and expansionism, and the Russian/British/French reaction to it.

The assassination was certainly a pretext for war, but it would have happened anyway. The Germans, especially, were eager for war.

65 posted on 06/22/2004 2:49:46 PM PDT by r9etb
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To: COBOL2Java
Writer must be a gun-grabber.

Or, it could just be a catchy headline.

66 posted on 06/22/2004 2:52:24 PM PDT by r9etb
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To: Chi-townChief

bttt


67 posted on 06/22/2004 4:25:49 PM PDT by Pagey ((Hillary Rotten is a Smug and Holier- than- Thou- Socialist))
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To: Revolting cat!

Is that the same novel as "The Good Soldier Schweik" -- it sounds like it. That is one of the funniest books I've read.


68 posted on 06/22/2004 5:32:23 PM PDT by expatpat
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To: yarddog

Venerate it all you like. It really doesn't matter to me.

In fact have a priest parade around with it during mass since it is such a fascinating object.


69 posted on 06/22/2004 6:13:36 PM PDT by nmh (Intelligent people recognize Intelligent Design (God).)
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To: expatpat
Yes, it is the same book. "Švejk" is the original Czech spelling. The funniest book I've ever read (more than once!)

I must say though that I prefer the Cecil Parrott translation of the opening sentence, which is closer to the original Czech anyway, even if it doesn't convey the idea that "they" had done it to "us":

'And so they've killed our Ferdinand,' said the charwoman to Mr Svejk, who had left military service years before, after having been finally certified by an army medical board as an imbecile, and now lived by selling dogs -- ugly, mongrel monstrosities whose pedigrees he forged.

70 posted on 06/22/2004 6:16:59 PM PDT by Revolting cat! ("In the end, nothing explains anything!")
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To: nmh

Goodness gracious, what an idiot.


71 posted on 06/22/2004 6:20:47 PM PDT by yarddog
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To: Chi-townChief
Are there any gun greats out there who could help me find out about an old flintlock pistol that came from Kaiser Wilhelm's gun collection? I have a photo of it soon after it was uh . . . liberated in 1917 or 18. I will see if I can post a picture of it.
72 posted on 06/22/2004 6:59:09 PM PDT by Colorado Doug
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To: goldstategop

not true - more likely the WW! would have been fought later. WW1 was waiting to happen.


73 posted on 06/22/2004 7:03:56 PM PDT by Destro (Know your enemy! Help fight Islamic terrorism by visiting www.johnathangaltfilms.com)
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To: r9etb

yup. give or take a decade.


74 posted on 06/22/2004 7:04:31 PM PDT by Destro (Know your enemy! Help fight Islamic terrorism by visiting www.johnathangaltfilms.com)
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To: Colorado Doug

I recall the Kaiser famously said "when I hear the word INTELLECTUAL I reach for my revolver". I always could relate.


75 posted on 06/22/2004 7:10:16 PM PDT by nkycincinnatikid
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To: Destro

"more likely that WW1 would have been fought later" We can at least be sure that it would have occured prior to WW2.


76 posted on 06/22/2004 7:15:32 PM PDT by nkycincinnatikid
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To: nkycincinnatikid

I thought Goering said that.


77 posted on 06/22/2004 7:24:13 PM PDT by Chi-townChief
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To: Chi-townChief
That's my dad in the middle, with the flintlock and a few other "liberated"" items, like the helmets. By the way, what is the statute of limitations on war souvenirs?


78 posted on 06/22/2004 7:25:46 PM PDT by Colorado Doug
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To: Chi-townChief

If he did he add plagerism to the his Nuremburg docket


79 posted on 06/22/2004 7:28:46 PM PDT by nkycincinnatikid
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To: Colorado Doug

That of course depends upon who wins the war, Absolutely FANTASTIC picture, What is the biplane do you know?


80 posted on 06/22/2004 7:33:13 PM PDT by nkycincinnatikid
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