(May 28, 2014 at 10:04 am)DeistPaladin Wrote: I'm not as versed with the motives of the Kaiser but I do know there was a "pan-German" sentiment that ran through the Junker (pronounced "Yun-ker") ruling class of Germany. The assassination of the Archduke seemed to me to be just a pretext. A good pretext but a pretext nonetheless.
The war was by then inevitable. There were many different factors that could have started it but the Balkans is always a good bet for a fight.
I learn't recently that the whole assassination had a comedy element. The car carrying the Archduke had passed one would be assassin who had given up, but they came back because of other incidents and had to do a three point turn just in front of him.
Quote:The Archduke's chauffeur was following the mayor's car. They passed the sixth assassin, Grabez, at Imperial Bridge. He merely watched as the car sped by. The mayor's driver made a wrong turn. Where he should have taken the Appel Quay, he turned onto Francis Joseph street, a street named for the Archduke's uncle. Potiorek, riding with the Archduke and Sophie, cried out:
"What's this? We've taken the wrong way!"
The driver applied the brakes and the car came to a stop not five feet from Gavrilo Princip. Unlike his cohorts, Princip acted quickly and precisely, drawing his pistol and firing twice before the car could complete its turn. The shots made little noise and the car sped off. Potiorek looked at the couple and, at first, thought that they were unhurt. In actuality, the Archduke had been hit in the neck and Sophie in the stomach. The Archduke opened his mouth and a stream of blood poured out.
http://www.worldwar1.com/tlsara.htm
You can fix ignorance, you can't fix stupid.
Tinkety Tonk and down with the Nazis.
