Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

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
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-6061-80 ... 101-103 next last
This is an amazing find almost 90 years later to the day. Odd headline, though. I guess WWI was the pistol's fault.
1 posted on 06/22/2004 10:07:59 AM PDT by Chi-townChief
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: Chi-townChief

Musta been one helluva magic bullet!


2 posted on 06/22/2004 10:09:21 AM PDT by freedomlover
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Chi-townChief

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.


3 posted on 06/22/2004 10:10:59 AM PDT by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives On In My Heart Forever)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Chi-townChief

My wife and I just saw a program on The History Channel concerning the details of the assasination.

For want of a driver that knew the route....


4 posted on 06/22/2004 10:11:29 AM PDT by Badeye ("The day you stop learning, is the day you begin dying")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Chi-townChief
...the 90th anniversary of the assassination of the heir to the Austrian empire and his wife, Sophie...

There was also a third victim; Sophie was pregnant at the time.

5 posted on 06/22/2004 10:13:33 AM PDT by Van Jenerette (Our Republic - If we can Keep it!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Chi-townChief

Does anybody know exactly which model of Browning Pistol it is??


6 posted on 06/22/2004 10:16:09 AM PDT by Pylot
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Chi-townChief

--yeah--amazing it wasn't found "on the streets" where all those assault weapons are supposed to be---


7 posted on 06/22/2004 10:19:05 AM PDT by rellimpank
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Chi-townChief

Gavrilo Princip, second right, is arrested after the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand.
This photo is considered to be one of the biggest pictorial scoops.

8 posted on 06/22/2004 10:19:05 AM PDT by Constitution Day (Burger-Eating War Monkey)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: ABG(anybody but Gore)

Somehow, something in the far reaches of my brain hint that you'll be interested in this:-)


9 posted on 06/22/2004 10:20:14 AM PDT by Molly Pitcher
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: goldstategop

---the same might be true if Woodrow Wilson's mother had had a "choice"---


10 posted on 06/22/2004 10:20:29 AM PDT by rellimpank
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Pylot

It was an FN manufactured Browning Model 1910, I believe.


11 posted on 06/22/2004 10:21:05 AM PDT by Legion
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: Pylot

According to www.gunsworld.com, it was a Browning 1910, Belguim made, .32 ACP

12 posted on 06/22/2004 10:22:43 AM PDT by leadpencil1 (Kerry is a technicolor yawn!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: leadpencil1

Live pic.

13 posted on 06/22/2004 10:24:30 AM PDT by leadpencil1 (Kerry is a technicolor yawn!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: goldstategop
Now there's even a band named after the late Archduke.
14 posted on 06/22/2004 10:25:08 AM PDT by Constitution Day (Burger-Eating War Monkey)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: goldstategop

I tend to lean toward the notion that this incident merely affected a change in the beginning stages of the war; that there was going to be a World War I in those years anyway; that effectively, it had already started except for the major shooting.


15 posted on 06/22/2004 10:28:43 AM PDT by First_Salute (May God save our democratic-republican government, from a government by judiciary.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

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"

Possibly, but doubtful. That may have been the final straw but the writing was already on the wall. Obviously it is impossible to predict what would have been different, but I think the world was on course for the war, Franz just showed them the shortcut.

"The Balkan Peninsula or the "Powder Keg of Europe" because tensions there threatened to ignite a major war. Rivalry for control of the Balkans added to the tensions that erupted into World War 1."

"The assassination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand triggered World War 1. But the war had its origins in developments of the 1800's. The main causes of World War 1 were:

The rise in nationalism
Build-up of military might
System of military alliances"
16 posted on 06/22/2004 10:32:50 AM PDT by MPJackal (Waiting for the big one and some nice beach front property in Nevada.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: goldstategop
If the Archduke had never been assassinated...

...then World War I might have been delayed for a while. It was the underlying tensions that were forming among the monarchies of Europe that insured it would happen one way or another.

17 posted on 06/22/2004 10:32:53 AM PDT by FormerLib (Kosova: "land stolen from Serbs and given to terrorist killers in a futile attempt to appease them.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Constitution Day; snopercod
See Black Hand
In May 1911, ten men in Serbia formed the Black Hand Secret Society. Early members included Colonel Dragutin Dimitrijevic, the chief of the Intelligence Department of the Serbian General Staff, Major Voja Tankosic and Milan Ciganovic.

The main objective of the Black Hand was the creation, by means of violence, of a Greater Serbia. Its stated aim was: "To realize the national ideal, the unification of all Serbs. This organisation prefers terrorist action to cultural activities; it will therefore remain secret."

 

18 posted on 06/22/2004 10:36:42 AM PDT by First_Salute (May God save our democratic-republican government, from a government by judiciary.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: leadpencil1
According to www.gunsworld.com, it was a Browning 1910, Belguim made, .32 ACP

There appears to be some uncertainty on whether it was a .32 or a .380, both were being manufactured at the time.

19 posted on 06/22/2004 10:37:58 AM PDT by TC Rider (The United States Constitution © 1791. All Rights Reserved.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: GSlob
"So they've done it to us," said the cleaning woman to Mr. Svejk. "They've killed our Ferdinand."

Svejk had been discharged from military service years ago when a military medical commission had pronounced him to be officially an imbecile. Now, he was making his living by selling dogs, ugly mongrel mutants that he sold as purebreds by forging their pedigrees. In addition to this demeaning vocation, Svejk also suffered from rheumatism and was just now rubbing his aching knees with camphor ice.

"Which Ferdinand, Mrs. Muller?" he asked. "I know two Ferdinands. One is the pharmacist Prusa's delivery boy, who drank up a whole bottle of hair potion once by mistake. And then, I know one Ferdinand Kokoska, who collects dog turds. Neither one would be much of a loss."

"But Mr. Svejk! They killed the Archduke Ferdinand, the one from Konopste, the fat one, the religious one."

The opening sentences from The Good Soldier Švejk and His Fortunes in the World War by Jaroslav Hašek (New English translation by Zdenek Sadlon and Emmit Joyce.)

20 posted on 06/22/2004 10:41:21 AM PDT by Revolting cat! ("In the end, nothing explains anything!")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-6061-80 ... 101-103 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson