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The Assassination of Franz Ferdinand

• Message 1.Β 

  Posted by Kingdom_of_Heaven (U13723660) on Monday, 1st December 2008

  I am studying history at the moment, and have to research The assassination of Franz Ferdinand.
  I'm interested to know:
  1. What his initial purpose was in visiting Sarajevo on 28 June 1914?
  
  2.What did the assassins hope to accomplish by murdering Franz Ferdinand?
  
  3. Were any governments, such as the Bosnian govt., aware of an assassination plot?
  
  Anything regarding this topic would be helpful.
  

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• Message 2

  , in reply to message 1.

  Posted by Vizzer aka U_numbers (U2011621) on Tuesday, 2nd December 2008

  1. What his initial purpose was in visiting Sarajevo on 28 June 1914?Β 
  
  To inspect the preparations of the facilities for the forthcoming Winter Olympics.
  
  
  2.What did the assassins hope to accomplish by murdering Franz Ferdinand?Β 
  
  A number one spot in the charts for the Kaiser Chiefs.
  
  
  3. Were any governments, such as the Bosnian govt., aware of an assassination plot?Β 
  
  Yes - the security services of Freedondia, Sylvania and Ruritania each held separate (but similar) dossiers on the plot. The Ruritanian embassy in Vienna had even delivered their dossier to the Habsburg gonernment but it had been dismissed as being 'Dodgy' - i.e. not 'Good Enough'.

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• Message 3

  , in reply to message 2.

  Posted by Tas (U11050591) on Wednesday, 3rd December 2008

  Hi Vizzer,
  
  <>
  
  I am truly amazed that, despite this warning there was not much done to protect the Archduke. I hope some heads did fall in the Austria-Hapsburg administration.
  
  Or perhaps that got so busy with all their ultimata and preparations for war that they let this incompetence go unpunished.
  
  Tas

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• Message 4

  , in reply to message 3.

  Posted by Backtothedarkplace (U2955180) on Wednesday, 3rd December 2008

  Hi Tas,
  
  you have to bear in mind the tensions between Ruritania and Hapsbug administration. There had always been tensions culminating in 1873 in the short lived border wars around 1883? Wars is a pretty strong word for it they were more of a scuffle, casualties being below a hundred on both sides. The Hapsburgs having thier hands full of the Metternich affair at the time never even mobilised. While matters pretty much cmae to a rest as they were pre bellum the end result was a small arms race between the pair of them. the latest theory was that this post war build up was pretty much imaginary and fueled by Basil Zaroff to increase arms sales in the area.
  
  These pre existing tensions between them pretty much led the Hapsburgs to disregard the information as being a provocation by the Ruritanians. Relations did improve in the aftermath. But even down to today with Ruritania, now in Romania apart from the Meglaburgwald area which was siezed by the Bulgarians in the aftermath of the second world war, they can still be tense. The incidents in the 1970's being a good indicator of how quickly old events can have an effect in the modern day.

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• Message 5

  , in reply to message 4.

  Posted by Tas (U11050591) on Wednesday, 3rd December 2008

  Hi BTTDP,
  
  Thanks for all that. I actually thought that Ruritania was a romantic literary invention from the 'Prisoner of Zenda'. Had no idea it was a serious political entity prior to WW1.
  
  Was there a King Rudolf, an Archduke Michael, also known as 'Black Michael' and a Rupert of Hentzau?
  
  Tas

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• Message 6

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  Posted by Mike Alexander (U1706714) on Wednesday, 3rd December 2008

  Tas, I think it is our old friend Crown Prince Heim-Arbeit, and the Policy of Non-Cooperation, that is the most significant thing at play here.

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• Message 7

  , in reply to message 5.

  Posted by Backtothedarkplace (U2955180) on Wednesday, 3rd December 2008

  Hi Tas,
  
  Yes and no. The name got used thats a for sure. But the fictional Ruritania was placed some were between Germany and Austro Hungary. The real one was much less photogenic and sandwiched between austria and the more unpleasant bits of the balkans. one of the Dukes of Bath passed through it on the Grand tour that all English aristocrats used to do after being expelled from Eaton. His advice was "Do not stop"
  So, no King Rudolph. There was an Arch Duke Michael. but he got on the wrong side of a wild boar about 1852. Hentzau was renamed after the Bulgarian occupation. I think its tankograd now? Either way theres no Rupert I know of connected to it.

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• Message 8

  , in reply to message 6.

  Posted by Backtothedarkplace (U2955180) on Wednesday, 3rd December 2008

  Hi Mike.
  
  I agree totally. That the role of Heim-Arbeit is easily overlooked. if you could recomend a really good book on this the original poster might be grateful?

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• Message 9

  , in reply to message 2.

  Posted by Mani (U1821129) on Thursday, 4th December 2008

  Vizzer,
  
  Didn't the government of Freedondia refer to this as the Duck soup incident?
  
  After mistaking the Black hand's plans for Rufus T. Firefly's afternoon lunch?

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• Message 10

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  Posted by Our Man in Mexico (U1661159) on Thursday, 4th December 2008

  Hi Tas,
  
  In addition to the rather unfortunate Archduke Michael, there was Ferdinand Maximilian who was Emperor of Mexico between 1864 and 1867.
  
  Warm Regards,
  
  Craig
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

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• Message 11

  , in reply to message 9.

  Posted by Nielsen2 (U13686196) on Thursday, 4th December 2008

  Mani,
  
  I think you're quietly right with the affair being referred to as 'Duck Soup again', which actually was the reason they had the border scuffles in 1883, as that was the only week they could afford to rent the Field of Battle (NOT the other place near Hastings!)
  
  As to the plans of the Black Hands, I've read from usually reportable sources that they all went and did a Pontius Pilate (a Danish expression which I don't know is applicable in English).
  

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• Message 12

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  Posted by giraffe47 (U4048491) on Friday, 5th December 2008

  I take it you don't do people's homeworks, then?

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• Message 13

  , in reply to message 12.

  Posted by Mike Alexander (U1706714) on Friday, 5th December 2008

  Giraffe, back at school I didn't do my own homework half the time, so why would I want to do someone else's for them now?

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• Message 14

  , in reply to message 11.

  Posted by Vizzer aka U_numbers (U2011621) on Friday, 5th December 2008

  I think you're quietly right with the affair being referred to as 'Duck Soup again', which actually was the reason they had the border scuffles in 1883, as that was the only week they could afford to rent the Field of Battle (NOT the other place near Hastings!)
  
  As to the plans of the Black Hands, I've read from usually reportable sources that they all went and did a Pontius Pilate (a Danish expression which I don't know is applicable in English).Β 
  
  Yes - the 'Duck Soup again' view has led a tiny minority of historians to suggest that the plot was 'Marxist' in conception and that an alternative name for the Black Hand was the 'Marxist Brotherhood'.
  
  This Marxist hypothesis, however, have been roundly rejected by the historical mainstream as just so much 'Harping' on by 'Grouchy' historians.

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