{"id":9226,"date":"2022-07-05T16:01:50","date_gmt":"2022-07-05T13:01:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/starlanguageblog.com\/?p=9226"},"modified":"2022-07-05T16:01:50","modified_gmt":"2022-07-05T13:01:50","slug":"archduke-franz-ferdinand-and-the-archduke-of-austria-este-during-ww1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.starlanguageblog.com\/archduke-franz-ferdinand-and-the-archduke-of-austria-este-during-ww1\/","title":{"rendered":"Archduke Franz Ferdinand and the Archduke of Austria-Este During WW1"},"content":{"rendered":"
The heir apparent to the throne of Austria-Hungary was Archduke Franz Ferdinand Carl Ludwig Joseph Maria of Austria (18 December 1863 \u2013 28 June 1914). The immediate cause of World War I was his murder in Sarajevo.<\/p>\n
Later that day, however, their luck ran out when their driver unintentionally drove them past Gavrilo Princip, a 19-year-old Serbian nationalist who fatally shot Franz Ferdinand and his wife at point-blank range. On July 28, Austria-Hungary, incensed, and Germany supported its declaration of war against Serbia.<\/p>\n
The relationship between Countess Sophie Chotek and Archduke Franz Ferdinand<\/a> during World War I is fascinating and a good study of how to balance the interests of a husband and wife. The first time they met, Sophie was expelled from the Archduchess’s house and forced to wait in the stall for more senior women. When Franz Ferdinand finally decided to marry her, she joined him at official functions.<\/span><\/p>\n The love affair between the two Archdukes began when he met Sophie Chotek in Prague. She served as his lady-in-waiting to Archduchess Isabella. When the relationship was discovered, Franz Ferdinand refused to end the courtship because she was not of the same status as him. The relationship was never publicly revealed. The two were secretive about their relationship for two years. In the meantime, Franz Ferdinand’s mate, Archduchess Marie Christine of Austria, assumed that the two were still in love.<\/span><\/p>\n In 1914, the Archduke inspected the military in Bosnia and stopped at the Sarajevo museum for a few days. Sophie was not expected to join him, but she did because of a legal loophole that allowed her to sit beside the Archduke while he was on military duty. However, several assassins were waiting for her when she arrived in Sarajevo.<\/span><\/p>\n In the aftermath of the war, the two were forced to live under the same roof. Despite their differences, their relationship became a union that lasted the rest of their lives. Although Franz Ferdinand and Sophie were destined to be married, they never remarried. Sophia’s mother, who had remained a single woman, was also in a relationship with the Archduke.<\/span><\/p>\n As they were driving toward Konak, the car driver took a wrong turn and stopped in front of them. A member of the Young Bosnian Army<\/a> and trained by the Black Hand, Gavrilo Princip, shot Franz Ferdinand and Sophie from point-blank range. After the shooting, Princip was sentenced to 20 years in prison for double homicide and later died from tuberculosis.<\/span><\/p>\n Sophie and Franz Ferdinand were married on July 1, 1900. Although the marriage was legally binding, the ceremony was not. Franz Ferdinand and Sophie were married in a private ceremony in Reichstadt, Bohemia, with only the Archduke’s step-sisters present. The ceremony was a far cry from the royal wedding. The couple raised their daughter to a princess and gave her the style “Her Serene Highness” to signify her position. The marriage was reportedly not happy for Sophie. She was often denied the right to ride in the same coach as her husband.<\/span><\/p>\n On June 28, 1914, the Archduke and his wife were driven through Sarajevo by an Austrian motorcade. As the car sped down the street, a car turned to the left, and a man named Gavrilo Princip shot at them from a nearby cafe. The Archduke and his wife both died moments later. A misunderstanding over the logistics led to the accident.<\/span><\/p>\n In June 1914, the Archduke visited Sarajevo, Bosnia, to inspect the imperial armed forces. The annexation had enraged Serbian nationalists<\/a>. The young men behind the attack hatched a plot to murder the Archduke and his wife. The plan was executed by Gavrilo Princip, a Bosnian Serb who was only 19 years old at the time of the shooting.<\/span><\/p>\n Although the Archduke and his wife were unarmed, the assassination attempt was a well-planned plot that resulted in igniting the European war. The Archduke’s driver had failed to stop when he approached the corner where Princip was standing. The driver shouted at him to stop. However, the driver could not respond to the man’s cries.<\/span><\/p>\n Although the murder of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his Serb comrade Gavrilo Princip is considered one of the greatest atrocities in history, there is a more complex explanation. Upon his death, Princip’s descendants identified with Serbian nationalism. However, the non-Serb South Slav population was horrified by his actions. Nevertheless, his legacy lives on.<\/span><\/p>\nGavrilo Princip<\/span><\/h2>\n