Gatchamania.net - Print: A day NOT in infamy

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Posted by ElectricWhite on 28-06-2014 at 12:33:

A day NOT in infamy

June 28, 1914 was a day that had an effect on the world, yet it's hardly ever mentioned. On this day, Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated, triggering World War I. (And which, in turn, led to WWII, and the Cold War, and so on.)

Once in a while, I find myself wondering what kind of world we'd have today if the archduke had lived to rule Austria-Hungary and instituted his social reforms as he had planned. (And I also wonder why more people think about this instead of strictly focusing on events in WWII.)

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Posted by Tengu on 28-06-2014 at 14:48:

That's a very interesting thought experiment. History would have played out very differently.

However it could be said that the war would have started anyway.

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Posted by Springie on 28-06-2014 at 15:29:

Good point! Funny how we don't hear as much about WWI...

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Posted by lborgia88 on 29-06-2014 at 22:20:

I think I can say that the First World War is better known in Canada, where I grew up -probably because Canada was involved in it from the very beginning, because every schoolkid in Canada knows this poem,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_Flanders_Fields

and because the wearing of poppies around November 11 every year is a lot more common in Canada than in the U.S.

quote:

However it could be said that the war would have started anyway.

I think it would have started anyway, if not exactly in the summer of 1914. Germany didn't unify as a single country until 1870, under the Prussian Chancellor, Bismarck -for over a thousand years, feudal politics, the efforts of France and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and Catholic/Protestant religious differences had kept that from happening. But when it finally did... there was going to be a shakedown in the European power structure, no matter what. And France was itching for a chance for revenge on Germany after their defeat in the Franco-Prussian War, and the weakening Ottoman Empire was creating a power vacuum in the Balkans, drawing the attention of Austria-Hungary and Russia. And Great Britain had too many strategic interests to ever be able to stay out of a major continental war.

It was very unprecedented for France and Great Britain to actually be allies in a major war instead of enemies -the first sign that things had really changed by 1914.

Funny thing, I think it was the Cold War -and the fact that everything happens on a global stage now, not a Eurocentric one- that finally brought the countries of Western Europe close enough together that I honestly don't think they'll ever go to war against each other again.