100 Years Ago Today – Franz Ferdinand Shot Sparking WWI

It starts at school and if TV is used as the basis to engage children’s’ interest then they will “go forth” confused, particularly as many parents will be unable to help them towards the “truth”.

Oh What a Lovely War certainly had a seminal affect on large numbers of my generation at least those who had little in the way of 20th century history education. Countless war films of both world wars and others have had similar effects so peoples’ view of the “truth” is confused. Depending on what the “truth” is of course.

And reading any number of historian’s accounts will not be a great help either.

If people are that stupid that they choose to believe a joke in Blackadder over the truth, then there is probably no hope for them anyway.

There is a danger that the Blackadder version of WW1 will briefly become he accepted version, just as in the years before the Joan Littlewood “Oh what a lovely war” version held sway.

Neither has anything to do with the grim reality.

Moggy

And all that because a man named Archie Duke shot an ostrich because he was hungry, according to Baldrick.

Does this include the deaths in WW2?

No. WW2 was another 38-55 million civilian dead and 22-25 million military dead.

A letter in today’s DT says that the car he was travelling in is now preserved in Vienna. The number plate is A111118. The date the war ended. How strange is that?

Well that’s s matter of much debate.

Likewise Moggy, my grandfather left for France in 1916 leaving my then 5 year old mother and died of shell wounds in northern Italy 2 years later. My mother had little recollection of him. The aggressive political aspirations of misguided largely aged “statesmen” combined with deals behind doors resulted in millions of wasted often young lives. The first few months of the Serbian campaign established the tone for the campaigns which followed.

Our good friend JDK made a good post on Facebook earlier.

Dont get too fixated on this one act. It would have happened anyway. It might have taken a little longer, but it would have happened.

Bruce

Well said Moggy ,a death sentence to millions of young innocent men who had no interest or reason to be murdered.

I can’t forget because exactly one hundred years ago today my Uncle Frank, 17 years old and working for the Liverpool Daily Post & Echo, would have heard the news, little knowing that the clock was now ticking. He has just two years, one month and two days left until he dies a miserable death attacking the village of Guillemont, at the southern end of the British sector of the Somme on a misty, summer morning.

Moggy

The latest issue of “After The Battle” quarterly mag – no.164 – has an in depth article about the events leading up to the assassination, details of the plotters and what happened to them (Princip was only one among several who were tasked with the job) plus the usual ‘then and now’ pics.

Well worth a read.

To be fair they did also suggest thst it might have been fitted after the war…….:)

The gun and even what is claimed to be the bullet pulled from the Arch Duke are also preserved I understand.

Hi All,
Yes it was just two shots that caused 37 million in military and civilian deaths. 🙁

Geoff.

Does this include the deaths in WW2?

A letter in today’s DT says that the car he was travelling in is now preserved in Vienna. The number plate is A111118. The date the war ended. How strange is that?

I shall be in Ypres and on the Somme next week helping my students reflect on these thoughts…..

Hi All,
Yes it was just two shots that caused 37 million in military and civilian deaths. 🙁

Geoff.

What an awful series of events that kicked off. It would be nice to think that humanity learned the futility of killing each other on an industrial scale from WW1 and WW2, but somehow I don’t think it has learnt much at all.