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Assassination at Sarajevo June 28, 1914. Oakmont Sunday Symposium May 4, 2014 Bob Kirk, Ph.D., Presenter. Topics this morning. The Archduke and the Hapsburg Dynasty The assassination Underlying tensions that led to war How the war started Why the war lasted four years
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Assassination at SarajevoJune 28, 1914 Oakmont Sunday Symposium May 4, 2014 Bob Kirk, Ph.D., Presenter
Topics this morning . . . • The Archduke and the Hapsburg Dynasty • The assassination • Underlying tensions that led to war • How the war started • Why the war lasted four years • Why the results of the war were worse than the war itself
Ferdinand and Sophie Married 1900. She was created Duchess of Hohenburg but was forbidden to stand or sit beside her husband in public ceremonies.
House of Habsburg In 1276 Rudolf, Count of Habsburg, became Duke of Austria. The Habsburgs gained lands through marriage rather than war. By 1867, Hapsburg rulers were Emperors of Austria and Kings of Hungary. .
Emperor of Austria-Hungary Franz Josef (1848-1916) was age 84 at the time of the assassination. He was a conscientious monarch, but was extremely conservative. He had already suffered several family tragedies.
Empress Elizabeth, 1837-1898 Born a Bavarian princess, she married Franz Josef at 16. She was obsessed with her own beauty and had to be sewn into corsets. “Children are the curse of a woman!”
1898: Geneva An Italian anarchist assassinated Empress Elizabeth. She was Austria’s longest-reigning empress –- 44 years, but she was often off traveling.
1867: A firing squad ended the short reign of Franz Josef’s younger brother, Maximilian, Emperor of Mexico d
1889: Rudolf and his teen lover Maria Vetsera killed themselves at Mayerling
Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the throne of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. He was Emperor Franz Josef’s nephew. When Crown Prince Rudolf died, he was next in line.
Konopiste Castle, Bohemia Franz Ferdinand recorded an estimated 300,000 game kills, including 5,000 deer. He even went to Australia to shoot kangaroos. 100,000 trophies are here at Konopiste Castle.
June 28, 1914 99 years, 10 months, and 10 days ago
In Sarajevo, Franz Ferdinand greets a well wisher. Duchess Sophie smiles.
Serb Black Hand formed in 1911 to unify all South Slavs under Serbia
Director “Apis” of Serbian Secret ServiceSerbian Intelligence supplied • 6 hand grenades * 4 Browning automatic pistols and • ammo Money • Suicide pills (ineffective) • Training
6 conspirators lined the route. NedeljkoCabrinovic threw a grenade and wounded two in the fourth car. They were rushed to the hospital. Cabrinovic swallowed an expired cyanide tablet and merely got sick. He then jumped into the Miljacka River, but it was only four-inches deep.
A scheduled visit to city hall minutes after the bomb explosion
The archduke demanded to go to the hospital to visit the wounded men. But Governor Oskar Potiorek forgot to tell the driver about the change of route. The driver turned right on Franz Josef Street – - and there was GavriloPrincip in front of Schiller’s Café.
Bosnian terrorist GavriloPrincip shot Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie
19-year old GavriloPrincip Who says kids can’t change the world?
June 28, 1914: Three questions the average Santa Rosan may have asked: • What’s an archduke? • Where the heck is Sarajevo? • Who won the ball game?
Yet, within a little more than a month, this event would change the world
So what underlying tensions among the great European powers led to this?
Wilhelm scared Czar Nicholas by not renewing the Reinsurance Treaty
A small war or a gigantic war? • Most observers thought Austria-Hungary would exact some retribution from Serbia and the problem would be contained. • Diplomacy was highly refined and had prevented several crises in the last decade. • Almost nobody expected a 4-year world war.
Germany planned to knock out France in six weeks, then turn on Russia
It all happened so fast . . . • July 23 – Austria-Hungary ultimatum to Serbia • July 28 – Austria-Hungary attacks Serbia • July 29 – Russia mobilizes against A/H & Germany • August 1 – Germany mobilizes in east and west and invades Luxembourg and Belgium • August 3 – Germany at war with France & Russia • August 3 – Italy declares neutrality • August 4 – Britain declares war on Germany