The Archduke Franz Ferdinand was excessive in his love of big game hunting even by the extravagant standards of the time. For example, he personally killed some 280,000 animals. On this date in 1914, he himself had the poor form to be killed. After that, things went to hell in a hand basket straightaway. It was only a matter of weeks in fact and The Great War was well underway. The gruesome suffering would be on a scale new to the world. The best summary I’ve ever read is in The House of Wittgenstein, A Family at War by Alexander Waugh. The paragraph that covers the brief time after the Archduke’s assassination follows in its entirety.
© 2024 John Oliver
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