The First World War's Origins
The event that was widely acknowledged to have sparked the outbreak of World War I occurred on July 28th, 1914, when Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, was shot to death with his wife by the Bosnian Serb nationalist Gavrilo Princip in Sarajevo. The man who carried out the assassination was a man from Serbia, a nation of Bosnia was just integrated into the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The assassins, part of the Serbian nationalist group Black Hand, took the opportunity to attack and kill the Archduke and his wife; the Archduke was visiting Bosnia for a visit to Sarajevo, the capital of the province. This moment in history was a one of the most pivotal moments in the twentieth-century. Gavrilo Princip and his comrades were armed with pistols and bombs to attack the Archduke’s motorcade. The attack began when one member threw an old grenade at the car and injured the officers and nearby troops, but leaving the Archduke unscathed. The attack failed and the assassin group thought their chance was gone, the Archduke was rushed to the town hall immediately after the attack. Later that day, the Archduke was leaving the town hall to visit those injured in the blast from earlier in the day when his chauffeur became lost in the streets of Sarajevo. The limo with the Archduke and his wife pulled over to map out a course to the hospital. Inside the building in front of the Archduke’s limousine was Princip, he was allegedly eating a sandwich when he saw the Archduke and his spouse. He lifted his weapon and fired two bullets into the open window, one to his wife and one to Archduke. Now, there is some confusion with this story because in the evidence reports and witness stories tell that Princip was waiting outside the deli, which was named Schiller’s. This event was the origin to the First World War. What lead next after the assassination was astonishing and it would change the world.
No comments:
Post a Comment