World War 1 #OnThisDay

On 28 June 1914,  Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir presumptive to Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria, visited Sarajevo, the capital of the recently annexed Bosnia and Herzegovina. After several failed attempts he was finally killed by Gavrilo Princip who fired two pistol shots, fatally wounding Ferdinand and his wife Sophie. This triggered off not only the brutal suppression of…

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On 28 June 1914,  Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir presumptive to Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria, visited Sarajevo, the capital of the recently annexed Bosnia and Herzegovina. After several failed attempts he was finally killed by Gavrilo Princip who fired two pistol shots, fatally wounding Ferdinand and his wife Sophie.

This triggered off not only the brutal suppression of the Serbian population but because of the system of political alliances formed between Western nations – a World War.

image by Ferdinand Schmutzer, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

After millions of deaths, a massive refugee crisis, political and social upheaval, the Treaty of Versailles with Germany was signed on 28 June 1919. This was, however, not the ending of the war as more treaties had to be signed and ratified by the various countries involved.

2 responses to “World War 1 #OnThisDay”

  1. berniebell1955 Avatar
    berniebell1955

    Rebecca West’s book ‘Black Lamb and Grey Falcon’ gives a very good background to the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, and a wider view of the outcome of that event….

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Lamb_and_Grey_Falcon

    It’s also a good read as Rebecca West understands and ‘draws’ characters well.
    From the beginning of the section entitled ‘Skoplje’ – what Rebecca West writes of Gerda – up to the lines …”all that we are and do means nothing, all that our ancestors were and did means nothing, unless we are naturally the equals of the peasant women on the Skopska Tserna Gora and in Bitolj, whose fingers never forget the pattern that an ancient culture had created as symbols for what it had discovered regarding life and death.”

    I was so impressed with this when I read the book, nearly 30 years ago, that I marked the passage in pencil, which is why I could easily find it again now!

    And now, it also reminds me of the wonders which are being found at archaeological sites – memories of what folk once knew, and encoded in objects, and that we are in danger of forgetting. But the objects, such as the EOASSK, from the Ness of Brodgar…..

    https://theorkneynews.scot/2017/12/29/mathematical-musings-of-the-neolithic-kind/

    …….are coming to light to wake us up again. I hope.

    Strangely enough….a band chose to name themselves after the Archduke…

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz_Ferdinand_(band)

    Reply
  2. One Thing Leading To Another – The Orkney News

    […] the 28th June 2026 was the anniversary of the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo in […]

    Reply

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