![]() ![]() ![]() The first attempt on the archduke’s life-a grenade thrown at his car-had failed, and the assassins disbanded. The killer was one of three assassins dispatched to Sarajevo by the Black Hand, a national terrorist group pushing for independence from Austro-Hungary for Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. During an official visit to inspect the Austro-Hungarian army, Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife, Sophie, were assassinated by Bosnian peasant 19-year-old Gavrilo Princip. We must be impartial in thought as well as in action, must put a curb upon our sentiments.” Sound and high-minded advice that would be hard for everyone, including Wilson, to follow.Ī couple of gunshots probably never before formed a connection between such a line of complicated causes and such an infinite variety of possibly still more complicated effects.” That was the New York Times’s prescient take on what had happened in faraway Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the day before-June 28, 1914. Japan, allied with Britain, followed suit.Īt first, the United States declared itself officially neutral, and President Woodrow Wilson counseled his fellow countrymen: “The United States must be neutral in fact as well as in name during these days that try men’s souls. That inspired Germany to declare war on Russia and France, and Great Britain to respond with a declaration of war on Germany. ![]() With nationalist elements threatening to pull its empire apart, Austria-Hungary struck back at Serbia, who then called on its ally Russia for aid. ![]() These conflicting alliances from previous wars pulled and tugged at the structure until it came tumbling down on June 28, when a Serbian nationalist killed the visiting Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir apparent to the Austro-Hungarian throne. Britain, France, and Russia were bonded in a “Triple Entente,” while Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy were bound in a Triple Alliance. This story appears in the March/April issue of National Geographic History magazine.Īs simple as it may sound, the European world collapsed on itself like a matchstick castle in summer 1914. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply.AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |