How a small band of nutcases started a world war

[northernsoul]

History never repeats itself exactly, but the paralells are pretty damn scary

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_in_Sarajevo



Start out with some ideological looney-birds being armed and egged-on by nationalists with intelligence connections:
"Young Bosnia, a group of young Bosnian anarchists, were equipped with Fabrique Nationale de Herstal model 1910 pistols and bombs supplied by the Black Hand, a strongly nationalistic Serbian secret society which included Serbian army officers, most notably Colonel Dragutin Dimitrijevic, who headed Serbian Military Intelligence, and had been a leader in the coup that killed King Aleksandar Obrenović eleven years before."

Add one shocking event perpetrated by said nutcases:
" Emerging, he saw Franz Ferdinand's open car reversing after having taken a wrong turn as it drove past, near the Latin Bridge. The driver, Franz Urban, had not been advised of the hospital change in plan and had continued on a route that would take the Archduke and his party directly out of the city. Pushing forward to the right hand side of the car, Gavrilo Princip twice fired a Belgian made Fabrique Nationale M 1910 semi-automatic pistol in 7.65×17 mm (.32 ACP) caliber (serial number 19074). The first bullet went through the side of the vehicle and hit Sophie in the abdomen, and the second hit Franz Ferdinand in the neck. Princip later claimed that his intention was to kill Governor General Potiorek and not Sophie.
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:
Franz Ferdinand

Both victims remained seated upright, but dying while being driven to the Governor's residence for medical treatment. Franz Ferdinand's last words, moments after being shot, were reported by von Harrach as „Sophie dear, don't die! Stay alive for our children!“ („Sopherl! Sopherl! Sterbe nicht! Bleibe am Leben für unsere Kinder!“)"


And watch the horrorific consequences follow:
"During interrogation, Princip, Čabrinović and the other members of their group remained silent until Danilo Ilić blurted out details of the conspiracy, including that the guns had been supplied from Serbian military stocks.

The killing of the heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire produced widespread shock across Europe and there was initially much sympathy for the Austrian position. The Government in Vienna saw this as an opportunity to settle the perceived threat from Serbia once and for all. After ascertaining that they could count on support from Imperial Germany, Austria-Hungary blamed the government of Serbia for the assassination and issued a harsh set of demands, which was known as the July Ultimatum. Austria-Hungary insisted that Serbia had to accept all of the conditions which included provisions that would have impacted on Serbian sovereignty. Caught between the external threat and their own extremist groups the Serbian Government accepted all the demands made except that Austrian investigators be permitted to undertake enquiries into the assassination on Serbian soil. Austria-Hungary then declared war on July 28, 1914. The system of interlocking alliances and treaties then in force led the great powers of Europe into World War I after a month of diplomatic maneuvering.

Those of the conspirators who were underage were sentenced to prison rather than execution. Three, including Danilo Ilić, were hanged. Čabrinović and Princip died of tuberculosis in prison.

It could be argued that this assassination set in train most of the major events of the 20th century, with its reverberations lingering into the 21st. The Treaty of Versailles at the end of the First World War is generally linked the rise of Hitler and the Second World War. It also led to the success of the Russian Revolution, which helped lead to the Cold war. This, in turn, led to many of the major political developments of the twentieth century, such as the fall of the colonial empires and the rise of the United States and Soviet Russia to super-power status.

However, if the assassination had not occurred, it is probable that World War I would have still have erupted, triggered by another event at another time. The alliances noted above and the existence of vast and complex mobilisation plans that were almost impossible to reverse once put in motion made war on a huge scale increasingly likely from the beginning of the twentieth century."

[EST]

1. In a big enough picture, I suppose, it only takes one person.

If everyone has bombs all set up, one fuse lighter is all that's required and there's always one ready and willing.

[shain from kane]

2. History repeats itself in that a small band of neo-con empire envious

nutcases started a World War, at the beginning of the 21st century.