Arguably the most impactful single event in the 20th century
by zedbagsjr
Arguably the most impactful single event in the 20th century
by zedbagsjr
14 Comments
Closely followed by the death of Kurt Cobain
Sorry who is this?
Do you think his assassin ever understood what he wrought upon the globe?
While Franz Ferdinand was the final trigger of WW1, its hard to say if his death uniquely lead to the start of the war. For one the actual underlying reasons the system of alliances, advancement of technologies, death of older more diplomatically competent individuals, collapse of the alliance between Russia and Germany, as well as general fracturing and shifts in the Balkans all meant another catalyst could’ve caused the war.
There is also the fact that Franz Ferdinand’s death didn’t have to lead to start of the war, for one Germany could’ve better handled the blank check they gave the Austrians and the Austrians could’ve been more reasonable with their demands or acted earlier all of which could’ve made Franz Ferdinand’s death a diplomatic incident but not the final cause of WW1.
This isn’t to say that the death of Franz Ferdinand wasn’t a vital moment in history and ultimately was significant but rather, is to contrast it with other important moments in history such as the death of Ögedei Khan. Whose death lead to the Mongols withdrawing from conquests in Europe and arguably spared most of it from incurring the wrath of the mongols. In that case his death was a direct catalyst and the individual timing truly mattered
Idk, I feel like Frederick III was alive WW1 could be avoided
And his wife too. Everyone forgets Sophie.
It’s a shame Franz Ferdinand’s death, even as consequential as it was, is all he’s remembered for because he was a genuinely interesting character.
([The respect for Franz Joseph leaving my body](https://www.reddit.com/r/MemeRestoration/comments/14vxcul/a_higher_quality_version_of_poohs_soul_leaving/) after learning how he treated Franz Ferdinand and Sophie.)
“hmm today I will purposely antagonize all the slavs by holding a parade and military exercises during one of the days they hold most dear in their fight for independency while supporting all the administrators the slavs hate and refuse to cooperate at all with any civil authority in the area or to organize the protection around the event properly like my father did years before. Certainly nothing will go wrong.”
What’s the quote at the bottom from?
And the poor old Ostrich died for nothing.
WWI would have started even if he wasn’t killed.
The underlying cause wasn’t Franz Ferdinand’s assassination, it was the web of alliances between competing empires in an increasingly globalized word and the rise of ethnic nationalism.
It was inevitable
Anthony Hopkins should have played him in a biopic.
The Balkans were always going to be the start of the war—the German-Austrian alliance and the French-Russian alliance (against Germany) were both realistically going to be started over the conflicting Balkan interests of Austria and Russia and without Bismarck (or Metternich and Castlereagh, though that was earlier), the statesmen weren’t up to the same calibre and had no sense of the flexibility required for Realpolitik. Cemented alliances and replacing diplomacy with increased mobilization certainly led to the war, although mobilization schedules (which necessitated a general war—the Tsar tried to limit mobilization and failed) are underappreciated in their contribution to the war.
I’m solidly in the camp that the most impactful moment of the 20th century was when the French generals of WWII didn’t believe their own pilot’s report about a Nazi armored logjam in the Ardennes forest.
Europe’s Last Summer is a great book by David Fromkin that does a nice job of illustrating just how slutty some of these European government staff were to start a war.
It would have happened with or without Ferdinand’s death, eventually. Influential players had been and had plans to continue fishing as blatantly as they possibly could for an excuse to go to war.