June 30, 1914

This dead Archduke seems to have provoked a bigger crisis than expected.  Bosnia and surrounding regions are still struck with riots, though they seem to be calming in intensity.  The Austro-Hungarian military has been deployed there, and martial law has been declared.  Hopefully it will be calmed soon and life will return to normalcy.  Apparently, the British Parliament has been addressed on the issues.  I dont hear anything frightening from there.  A good sign.

A Crisis

The focus of the world seems to be on Bosnia.  Otto von Bismarcks words from half a century ago seem somewhat frightening now.  These were the words Bismarck spoke at the Berlin Conference in 1878.  “If there is ever another war in Europe, it will come out of some damned silly thing in the Balkans”  Apparently, the Austro-Hungarian Legation in Belgrade has suggested that the nation of Serbia could have some part in the assassination.  That really sparked something, because the riots of yesterday are being followed by larger anti-Serb riots elsewhere in Bosnia.  Apparently that monk and advisor to the Russian Tsar, Grigory Rasputin has been killed.  He was travelling with his father in his old hometown when a young woman, Khioniya Guseva, covering her face with a veil, stabbed Rasputin in the stomach.  He was dead before he hit the floor.  This is quite a tumultuous time.

Sarajevo

June 28th, 1914
Sarajevo, Condominium of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Austria-Hungary
Franz-Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria, Heir to the Throne of Austria-Hungary and his wife have been shot!  The Archduke went to the city, in the unstable parts of the Empire fully knowing danger.  He arrived early on the morning of the 28th by train, getting into a 1911 Gräf & Stift 28/32 PS Double Phaeton as part of a motorcade.  Around 10:10 AM a Vaso Čubrilović hurled a bomb at the Archdukes car.  The bomb bounced off the car and exploded under the next one, immobilizing it and over a dozen people in the street.  At the Town Hall, the noticeably stressed Archduke gave a speech thanking the people of Sarajevo.  The motorcade then moved away.  In front of a Schillers Delicatessen, a Gavrilo Princip, a Bosnian, shot the Archduke and his wife.  They died in the car on the way to the governors house for treatment.  Both assassins were caught and await trial.  The cities of Bosnia are filled with riots against the authority of Austria-Hungary that have required the military to put down.  In response, anti-Bosnian pograms have been conducted by members of the German and Hungarian communities in Bosnia and Herzegovina as well as Croatia.  In Serajevo, Germans have attacked Bosnian businesses, houses, and have left two dead with little police intervention.