Those of us who stayed awake in history class already know the story of how this meek looking Serb...
...Gavrilo Princip, assassinated the heir to the Austo-Hungarian throne, Archduke Ferdinand and his wife, Sophia 100 years ago in Sarajevo.
The last photo taken of Ferdinand and Sophia before they were killed moments later.
This led to war between Austro-Hungary and Serbia, which also brought in Germany, England, France, Russia, the US, The Ottoman Empire (Turkey) and others to what we know today as...
...World War I.
Because of Russia's disastrous showing under the corrupt Czar Nicholas his people revolted, eventually leading to the rise of....
...Vladimir Lenin and his Bolsheviks/Communists.
After The Great War the victorious Allies put in place very harsh terms on the vanquished which brought great misery to average Germans, eventually leading to the rise of....
...Adolf Hitler and his Nazi Party and World War II.
The new Post War League of Nations gave administration of the Mid East to France and Britain, who set up the boundaries of many of the present day countries there.
The newspapers still remind us every day how well THAT worked out!
And of course Lenin's legacy brought us the Cold War...
...which lasted until the end of 1991.
All things considered, it was a pretty crappy century.
Now for The Rest Of The Story: How exactly did Princip come to assassinate the Archduke and his wife? He had fashioned a crude bomb which he dropped from a bridge onto the Archduke's automobile, but it bounced off the car's folded-back canvas top and exploded without causing injury to the Royals.
To avoid capture Princip ducked into a nearby business to hide. The Archduke insisted on completing his ceremonial rounds in Sarajevo so he set out again, but his driver MADE A WRONG TURN which took them right by the shop where Princip was hiding.
Seeing his opportunity, Princip came out and fired 2 shots at Ferdinand and Sophia, killing them both. Many would argue that that wrong turn set off the chain of events that defined the 20th Century.
Without that wrong turn there might not have been an assassination, WWI, Lenin's revolution, Hitler's WWII, the Cold War, or the current Mid East debacle.
It goes to show the tiniest things can have the most profound effects on history.
S
