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One hundred years ago today, a Serbian assassin gunned down Archduke Franz Ferdinand von Habsburg and his wife Sophie as they left the dedication of a new police station in Sarajevo, in what is now Bosnia.  The chain of events that unfolded after that murder took five weeks to play out, but on August 4, 1914 they reached fruition, and the bloodiest war the world had yet seen began.  They called it the Great War, or the World War. We call it World War I.  Begun with a single revolver in the hands of a terrorist, it consumed 14 million lives, destroyed four royal dynasties, redrew the map of Europe, spawned an even bloodier sequel, and created the world we have lived in for the last century.

The footage we have of South Africans in that conflict is frightening indeed.

In der Hölle schmoren, Princip.

Lange lebe Deutschland, und lange lebe die Österreichisch-Ungarische Monarchie!  Gott segne Herr Ferdinand und Prinzessin Sophie!  

Lange lebe Kaiser Wilhelm Zweite und die Guten Alten Zeiten!

(http://www.dsm1918.de/EKTAS_DOWNLOAD/KAISER_WILHELM.jpg)

To paraphrase The Shadow Ring: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTd54695IrM (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTd54695IrM)) Put the 20th century in it's coffin

In der Hölle schmoren, Princip.

Lange lebe Deutschland, und lange lebe die Österreichisch-Ungarische Monarchie!  Gott segne Herr Ferdinand und Prinzessin Sophie! 

Lange lebe Kaiser Wilhelm Zweite und die Guten Alten Zeiten!


(Praise for Kaiser Wilhelm?)

No, basically a wish for Gavrilo Principe to rot in hell for what he did,  and a blessing for long life for Germany and a blessing for the Austro-Hunagrian Empire, and for Kaiser Wilhelm the Second, who was it's ruler at that time before WW1 and up to it's end.

Why? This will get long, but please bear with me:
I am of German heritage on both sides.

The parents of my American-born grandfather (my mother's father) lived as young children and later young adults under Wilhelm II's reign. They came to America after WW1  however it was shortly before WW2 began. They died in my youth in the mid 70's and told me many stories about Old Germany and the times before and up to and after WW1.

Now, my mother's mother (my maternal grandmother) had a grandfather who came to America from Germany sometime in the 1880's after fighting in the Franco-Prussian War as a younger man. This was under Wilhelm's father, Wilhelm I, king of Prussia.  

You may ask why I ask for blessings for a time I didn't live in or people I never really knew, but it's because my relatives lived thru those times spilled their blood for Germany, and I feel obligated to honor them for their service to Old Germany.

I am very loyal to my family and I hope you all understand, and thanks for listening. Here's a drink for all of you!      :cheers:

Kaiser Wilhelm is a fascinating character.  Alternately swaggering or fawning, his love-hate relationship with his British in-laws was ONE of the contributing factors to the Great War, but far from the only one.  In many ways, Wilhemine Germany was a progressive and enlightened Empire, but at the same time authoritarian and brutal.  I'd like to get hold of a good biography of him.
    And props to you, Umaril, for your family loyalty!

You're absolutely right about Wilhelm II. How he was able to hold the Austro-Hungarian empire together in such an atmosphere of love-hate was a real sell. Better yet, his legacy to Germany's military was his desire to expand Germany's naval forces, and his relationship with Admiral von Tirpitz that actually made it a reality.  He was a visionary in that regard.

My Grandfather's family came from Prussia. I know at some point there was a war and during or after that there was nothing. People were eating grass and rats and whatever they could find. Wasn't a hard decision to leave.

Some would argue that Wilhelm's insistence on creating a High Seas Fleet for Germany was his greatest blunder.
It cast Germany in the role of rival power to England and soured what had been a close international relationship, driving the British to seek new alliances in Paris and St. Petersburg.  BTW, the Habsburgs ruled the Austro-Hungarian Empire, while Wilhelm, a Hohenzollern (what a cool dynastic name that is!!) ruled the Greater German Empire.

During the 1990's, I worked at the American Cotton Museum in Greenville, TX.  As part of our local history program, I tracked down some 13 surviving veterans of World War I.  Eight of them were lucid enough to conduct interviews, and how fascinating they were!  All of them born in the 1890's, three of them had fathers who had served in the Civil War, and one's father was actually born a slave.  The oldest man I spoke to was 105 when I interviewed him; the youngest was 96.  All the interviews were recorded on VHS tape and reside at the Cotton Museum (today known as the Audie Murphy/American Cotton Museum) to this day.

that must have been some perspective they had.

Mr. Williams, the oldest of the vets, died in 1997 at the age of 107.  Think of all that he saw from the time of his birth in 1890!
Two Presidential assassinations, two dying in office, and one resigned.  The flight of the first airplane when he was 13 and the moon landings when he was 79.  The Spanish American War broke out when he was 8 and the Great War when he was 24.  He would have been 51 when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor and 73 when Kennedy was assassinated. He saw the birth and death of the Soviet Union, the beginning and end of the Cold War, and this son of a slave lived to hear Dr. King talk about his dream - and see much of it come true.  Talk about a full life!

People who lived through the depression in particular have different perspective I know my grandmother just approached buying things on another level. She'd return stuff that was like old she didn't care. Being poor is one thing, but when the whole country is poor and there's no end in sight...

You are indeed right on the above statement and I stand corrected.
However, my wording in the first paragraph may be to blame.  Look back on my post and you'll see that I mentioned Kaiser Wilhelm II as being "it's ruler at that time and up until the end of WW1."  My mistake was that I didn't make it clear that I spoke of Wilhelm II as Germany's ruler and not the Austro-Hungarian Empire.  My bad  :twirl:

However, my family's history is the same, unabridged and handed down to me thru oral tradition and actual family history research. Interesting to say the least!

Just a small edit for thought here:
Wilhelm II's insistence on naval supremacy may have gotten Britain just a bit upset, to be sure.  However, the way that Wilhelm got it from pen and paper to reality was nothing short of amazing.  From the creation of the many interior offices and administrations it entailed, to the creation of the dreadnought battleships, right down to the opening of the Kiel Channel and the faster routes to the North and Baltic seas, Wilhelm's plan was nothing short of amazing.  That, and Alfred von Tirpitz to boot!

That would have been either the Austro-Prussian War of 1866, between the German Confederation and under command of the Austrian Empire and it's allies, or the actual Franco-Prussian War of 1870 and 1871 that ave birth to Germany's independence.

Either way, Europe has a long history of borders, border disputes and small kingdoms and the absorption of those kingdoms by larger ones. The amount of small kingdoms that existed at one time is truly staggering.

A shout out to you Indy:

Thanks for your support of my liking for history.  As a man who comes from direct Old World stock, the times of WW1 and WW2 have always fascinated me.  As well,having relatives who were caught up in those times makes it even more interesting to me.

The time leading up to WW1 was a very interesting blend of past events (Franco-Prussian War) with an even finer blend of subtle behind-the-scenes political maneuvering as well as outright open dislikes among the world powers.  I feel it especially necessary to study this time period being that it led to the first major war of the 20th century, and the things that happened afterward.  In any case, gotta' run for now but thanks for the great talk.

Now where did I put my Dragon Priest staff of flames???    :bouncegiggle:   

Well, this isn't the issue of The Onion I was looking for, that one had the Archduke emerge from hiding in late 1918 alive and well right after WWI, but this one about Ferdinand, supposedly from 1913, is still funny in a macabre sort of way:

http://o.onionstatic.com/images/8/8666/original/700.jpg (http://o.onionstatic.com/images/8/8666/original/700.jpg)

Bit o trivia
Everyone who owned the car was killed in it, except for the final owner, who donated it to a museum.
The car & the museum were destroyed by allied bombers in ww2.

Another person of that time in Germany's history that had a very important role in Old World German politics was Otto von Bismarck.   Bismarck was the glue that held together the German Ststes through 3 wars that helped unify Germany as a country. He was a political titan from the early 1860's to 1890.  He was a staunchly conservative man. He was a political giant and worthy of great note. he did so much for Germany that we would have to have 9 lives in order to list it all here!

Interestingly enough, one of Kaiser Wilhelm's first actions as Emperor was to put Bismarck out to pasture.
The Iron Chancellor was loudly opposed to the Kaiser's building a huge naval fleet.

BTW, a great book on this subject is R.K. Massey's CASTLES OF STEEL.

Cool! A guy that held together thru 3 wars is indeed an interesting one at that.

today, 27 - 28 august 2014 , Russia invaded Ukraine

 :bluesad:

Putin is much scarier than ISIS to me.

Putin is a thug, no doubt, but he is also a realist who is flexing his muscles right now because he knows he can.
ISIS, on the other hand, has no brakes and no control - only wild, fanatical hatred for everyone who doesn't share their
interpretation of Islam.  Their goal is nothing less than the destruction of all other faiths and creeds.  Right now their
abilities don't match their intent, but if they get their hands on some serious firepower, everyone who doesn't bow the
knee is SCREWED. :buggedout:

Well said, Dr. Jones.
And people wonder why I'm a pessimist...

This is why I find Putin scarier than ISIS. ISIS is crazy, they draw everyone's hate and opposition. Sure, if they had real power they would be dangerous, but precisely because of the rabid, attention-hungry way they operate they will never have real power. The West bombs ISIS at will because they have no real power. They appease Putin because he does have real power; they're afraid of him. Putin is cunning, he lets others grab the headlines. Meanwhile, he invades a sovereign nation with no more punishment than having a few oligarch's visas revoked. The West won't even use the word "invasion" because they're scared of hurting Russia's feelings.

I mean, ISIS is so dumb. Executing an American civilian is the perfect way to ensure maximum retaliation while doing minimum harm to your enemy.