The Assassination of the Archduke: Sarajevo 1914 and the Romance that Changed the World

author: Greg King
name: Wayne
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2013
rating: 4
read at: 2013/11/01
date added: 2020/08/22
shelves: non-fiction-history
review:
With the 100th anniversary of the tragic assassination that some claim led to the First World War, this is a new look at the archduke and his wife from some recently uncovered sources. Traditional sources have told that Franz Ferdinand was miserly, standoffish and dark. This book, which is written with his descendants blessings may have a different agenda, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Franz Ferdinand was nephew to Habsburg emperor Franz Joseph. When Franz Joseph's son Rudolph committed suicide and Franz Ferdinand's father renounced his claim on the throne, this left Franz in line for the throne. Complicating this was his marriage to Sophie Chotek, who was not his royal equal, creating a morganatic marriage. This inequality was never accepted by the emperor and Franz Ferdinand was riled by it. He made royal friends in other countries where she was accepted as equal, but not in Austria. They had 3 children and spent much of their time away from Vienna and the rest of the royal family.

The journey to Sarajevo and it's aftermath are discussed, as well as the fates of the three orphaned children, who suffered the loss of their parents, but the misfortunes of World War II. I've been to the military history museum in Vienna where many of the artifacts of the assassination are on display. The slashed and bloodstained uniform Franz Ferdinand wore, the couch he was laid on after he was shot and the automobile he and Sophie were riding in, among other things. It's a somber display, but with the distance of history, events can seem blurry and out of focus. This book humanized the victims of that assassination in a new way. It's a well written book about an event that may have been the most tragic of the 20th Century.

I was given a review copy by St. Martin's Press and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for letting me read this fine book.


via Wayne's bookshelf: read https://ift.tt/3jaIFRN