Just Finished Reading: The Assassination of the Archduke – Sarajevo 1914 and the Murder That Changed the World by Greg King and Sue Woolmans (FP: 2013) [292pp] 

I think it is more than arguable that THE pivotal moment (or most definitely A pivotal moment) in the 20th century occurred on 28th June 1914 when a young Serbian man shot and killed Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie on the streets of Sarajevo. A little over 4 weeks later Europe and the world was at war – a conflict that accounted for around 20 million deaths. Like most people, in the West at least, I certainly knew OF the event and some of the details behind it. What I didn’t realise, until reading this excellent book, was just how many details I was unaware of. 

The book was essential formatted into two halves – covering the life and (apparently very happy) marriage of the archduke in the first section and the more immediate run-up to the assassination in the second half. Naturally I enjoyed the second half more – being the person that I am – but the first half was FAR from boring. It was interesting that Franz never even entertained the idea of eventually becoming Emperor of Austria-Hungary. He was 4th in line and only an unusual set of circumstances led him to the cusp of that role. I also had no idea just how controversial his marriage was. Apparently by marrying a mere countess – who he was apparently deeply in love with – he ‘shamed the Imperial crown’ and was made to suffer repeated public humiliation because of it. Indeed, he had to sign an agreement that his children would not be allowed to inherit any rights, privileges or position once he became Emperor. [Side note: This is known as a morganatic marriage: relating to or denoting a marriage in which neither the spouse of lower rank, nor any children, have any claim to the possessions or title of the spouse of higher rank. This was obvious a favourite word of the authors who, throughout the book used it repeatedly. Although I wasn’t exactly counting, they must have used it 30 times at a minimum and I wouldn’t be in the least surprised if the use count exceeded 50 times. Although it did start to get irritating after a while I did eventually find it funny.] After YEARS of public abuse for marrying for love I, personally, would have used very undiplomatic language to tell the Empire what it could do, and where it could stick, the crown. Franz (and especially Sophie) were made of sterner stuff. 

The assassination itself was, well, weird. Even at the time there was much speculation that it was the result of a conspiracy. In effect, of course, it was – just (maybe) not the conspiracy some people were thinking of. There was definitely a conspiracy involving the assassins themselves. On top of that there was another conspiracy by members of the Serbian military to train, arm and assist the assassins in their attempt. What is not so clear, despite some very strange goings-on, was if there was any AUSTRIAN complicity in the killing. Franz didn’t want to go to Sarajevo but was essentially ordered to do so by the emperor, the visit and the route was advertised months in advance, the archduke's personal security detail was left at the local rail station because of lack of transport for them, the local governor (despite protestations) failed to arrange additional security for the event or even take normal standard precautions and on... All VERY strange. Was it a set-up? I think there’s a distinct possibility. Austria was certainly looking for an excuse to ‘deal’ with Serbia once and for all and an attempted assassination would provide that very excuse. If the archduke was actually killed....? Well, there was always someone around to take his place on the throne. 

Apart from the mildly irritating ‘morganatic’ on repeat this was a very interesting read. I learnt a lot about the run-up to the event itself as well as the immediate aftermath. Together with a few more upcoming reads I’m now much more aware of why and how Europe and the world ended up fighting one of the most destructive wars in our long and bloody history and why the world remains in such a mess today. All because a car paused at the side of a street in exactly the wrong place at the wrong time. SO many ‘what-ifs’ spring from that day. So many possibilities... Definitely recommended to anyone interested in how the Great War started. More to come – soon.