June 28 is approaching... Franz Ferdinand

[IrishGunner]

And interesting article

99 Things You Need To Know About Franz Ferdinand Before The 100th Anniversary Of His Assassination

[dond]

Good stuff.

[paul wood]

Most interesting, I think George V would have got on well with him pre-war as he used to like to shoot anything that moved (apart from when he was sticking stamps in his album). Reminds me of the Tom Lehrer song "two game wardens, seven hunters and a pure bred Jersey cow.", especially the line " they ask me how I do it, I say there's nothing to it, you just stand there looking cute and when something moves you shoot."

Paul

[davidck]

I have the good fortune to live in Sarajevo and to have been present at the assassination site at the exact time, 100 years later. I was disappointed with the event however, as there really wasn't one. No cannon shot or moment of silence to mark the assassination. There was an older man present in what looked to be his Austrian military uniform, there was a replica of the car, and some political delegation drove by en route to a hotel. There was a concert by the Vienna Symphony Orchestra at night, which I did not attend, but that seems to have been the only real event to mark the occasion.

There was also a notable lack of sobriety, with people milling about, waving flags, and singing religious and nationalistic songs. There was even a man with a water gun who jokingly shot at every car that drove by. And now I'm reading that a statue to Princip has been erected in East Sarajevo--which is actually a separate city from Sarajevo itself. The ghosts of 1914 continue to haunt this region.

[IrishGunner]

David, thanks for the report. Quite interesting. And maybe disappointing.

[IrishGunner]

The New York Herald, June 28, 1914