http://www.nola.com/military/index.ssf/2014/06/the_shot_that_triggered_world.html#incart_river
One hundred years ago Saturday (June 28), the assassination of an obscure archduke and his wife, in a country many Americans had never heard of, set in motion a chain of events that changed the world.
The slaying of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and Sophie, the Duchess of Hohenberg, by Gavrilo Princip in Sarajevo, Bosnia, dominated The Times-Picayune's front page the next morning, with a formal photograph of the couple on the next page.
On that day, no one could have foretold the long-term consequences of the assassination, which turned up the heat under a series of issues that had been simmering across Europe, including the growth of nationalism and boundary disputes. Complicating the situation was a web of multinational treaties that obligated signers to wage war on a country that attacked a member of the alliance.
The result was the conflict that became known as World War I, which the United States did not join until April 1917. By the time the war ended in November 1918, more than 8.5 million soldiers, including 116,516 Americans, had been killed and nearly 21.2 million had been wounded, including 204,002 Americans. Russia's czar had been toppled and executed, along with his family, and empires had been obliterated, including the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which Franz Ferdinand had been poised to lead.
The Sarajevo assassination and what seemed to be its immediate implications were discussed in a Times-Picayune editorial that ran beneath an editorial urging New Orleanians to clean up their city to curb the spread of disease.
The editorial deplored the slaying of the royal couple. But because much of the world regarded Franz Ferdinand as an absolute monarchist who didn't hesitate to feud with neighboring countries, the editorial said his removal from the scene could well be a guarantee of "peace and tranquility, and as likely to save many thousands of lives and millions of property."
Karl Franz, who replaced Franz Ferdinand in the line of succession, "is not the firebrand that the assassinated grand duke was," according to the editorial, "and it is generally believed that his reign will witness that peace and quietude (that had been) impossible" under Franz Ferdinand.
For many Americans, the events that the assassination would set in motion might as well have occurred on another planet, Thomas Ewing Dabney wrote in "One Hundred Great Years: The Story of The Times-Picayune From Its Founding to 1940."
"The American people had little knowledge of Europe beyond art galleries and bars, depending on the point of view of those who had made the tour, and no comprehension of Old World motivations," he wrote. "In their naïve theory, the size of the military machine was a guarantee against war, for what nation would risk the appalling destruction, the impossible cost of trial by battle under modern conditions!"
For the rest of the article....check out the TP link -- http://www.nola.com/military/index.ssf/2014/06/the_shot_that_triggered_world.html#incart_river
One hundred years ago Saturday (June 28), the assassination of an obscure archduke and his wife, in a country many Americans had never heard of, set in motion a chain of events that changed the world.
The slaying of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and Sophie, the Duchess of Hohenberg, by Gavrilo Princip in Sarajevo, Bosnia, dominated The Times-Picayune's front page the next morning, with a formal photograph of the couple on the next page.
On that day, no one could have foretold the long-term consequences of the assassination, which turned up the heat under a series of issues that had been simmering across Europe, including the growth of nationalism and boundary disputes. Complicating the situation was a web of multinational treaties that obligated signers to wage war on a country that attacked a member of the alliance.
The result was the conflict that became known as World War I, which the United States did not join until April 1917. By the time the war ended in November 1918, more than 8.5 million soldiers, including 116,516 Americans, had been killed and nearly 21.2 million had been wounded, including 204,002 Americans. Russia's czar had been toppled and executed, along with his family, and empires had been obliterated, including the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which Franz Ferdinand had been poised to lead.
The Sarajevo assassination and what seemed to be its immediate implications were discussed in a Times-Picayune editorial that ran beneath an editorial urging New Orleanians to clean up their city to curb the spread of disease.
The editorial deplored the slaying of the royal couple. But because much of the world regarded Franz Ferdinand as an absolute monarchist who didn't hesitate to feud with neighboring countries, the editorial said his removal from the scene could well be a guarantee of "peace and tranquility, and as likely to save many thousands of lives and millions of property."
Karl Franz, who replaced Franz Ferdinand in the line of succession, "is not the firebrand that the assassinated grand duke was," according to the editorial, "and it is generally believed that his reign will witness that peace and quietude (that had been) impossible" under Franz Ferdinand.
For many Americans, the events that the assassination would set in motion might as well have occurred on another planet, Thomas Ewing Dabney wrote in "One Hundred Great Years: The Story of The Times-Picayune From Its Founding to 1940."
"The American people had little knowledge of Europe beyond art galleries and bars, depending on the point of view of those who had made the tour, and no comprehension of Old World motivations," he wrote. "In their naïve theory, the size of the military machine was a guarantee against war, for what nation would risk the appalling destruction, the impossible cost of trial by battle under modern conditions!"
For the rest of the article....check out the TP link -- http://www.nola.com/military/index.ssf/2014/06/the_shot_that_triggered_world.html#incart_river
