The “war to end all wars” seemed to be capable of resolving territorial claims in Asia and Africa between European powers, not to mention an excellent stage on which a newly unified Germany could flex its military muscle. As binding alliances and an arms race had been building for years, increasing displays of nationalism and imperialism created a hotbed for aggression. Giesel had been instructed that, “however the Serbs react to the ultimatum, you must break off relations and it must come to war,” due to the growing tensions which plagued all of Europe, not merely the “ Sick Man.” Historians generally agree the assassination was the immediate cause of war, more the final straw than anything else. Yet even before Franz Ferdinand was assassinated, Europe was far from peaceful.
#Archduke franz ferdinand assassination series#
In what is known today as the July Crisis, a series of ultimatums and forged alliances resulted in the declaration of World War I.
The result was an ultimatum issued by Wladimir Giesl, the Austro-Hungarian minister in Belgrade. Shot by Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip, Ferdinand and wife Sophie died later that day. Perhaps it was in that very room on June 28, 1914, that Austro-Hungarian Emperor Franz Joseph received word of his heir apparent Franz Ferdinand’s assassination in Sarajevo. Yet before Kennedy met the Soviet premier, and his fate in Dallas, an assassination nearly a half-century earlier would change history. Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev would meet in the palace’s Great Gallery during the Vienna Summit.
Sumptuous and decadent in the Baroque and Rococo styles, the Hapsburg family’s summer retreat looks not a thing like the rustic Camp David or the rambling Kennedy compound at Hyannis Port. There is a palace in Vienna called Schönbrunn. Gavrilo Princip killing Archduke Franz Ferdinand (credit: Wikimedia Commons)
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