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

A weekend reading review!  Because Pastors also need a break from heavily theological reading!  Last week I also reviewed a history book: SOG: The Secret Wars of America’s Commandos in Vietnam.

Greg King.  The Assassination of the Archduke: Sarajevo 1914 and the Romance that Changed the World.  New York, NY: Saint Martin’s Press, September 3rd 2013. 432 pp.

4 out of 5

Purchase: Amazon

Most people know about the Archduke as the one who was assassinated that became the catalyst for the First World War.  Other than that little else is known about him not because there’s no information out there but I believe a large part of it is because Archduke Franz Ferdinand was not popular with the elites in the Austrian ruling family and its court and also because the horror of World War One eclipsed everything.  This book turned out to be quite interesting in its own right not just in relations to thing that led to the World War but also for the tragic love story of Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie.  Certainly the human interest is there in this book!

One of the big take away from reading this book for me is the fact that sometimes people have nostalgia of “the good old days” before World War One but this book reveal otherwise; while there hasn’t been a big European wide war for decades still those pre-War days wasn’t all golden.  This was a time of tension between Empires and also revolutionary and anti-Monarchy sentiments; anarchists and extremists and nationalists have gone out to assassinate royal family members and distinguished officials all throughout Europe and at times they were successful.  Fear of revolt and oppression among various people group to check nationalists’ feelings by empires was a common practice. This is the world that was pre-World War One.

Readers will get to learn that being the Austrian heir to the throne isn’t all it cracked out to be if the Emperor himself is against you.  In the past I have heard that Franz Ferdinand did not get along with Emperor Franz Joseph I and that the two had a contentious relationship.  I have wrongly assumed Franz Ferdinand to be at fault but the book goes into details of that relationship and how it was more the Emperor being the bitter one who harbor a grudge and was set against his heir apparent.  A big reason for that has to do with Franz Ferdinand’s decision to marry his wife Sophie.  Sophie was a countess who served as a lady-in-waiting to Archduchess Isabella and her and the Archduke secretly fell in love that blossom to marriage.  The Imperial House of Habsburg was set in many legalistic traditions and custom and one of its requirement was that a Royal must marry an “equal.”  By “equal” that means Franz should marry the equivalent of another Royal in Europe.  But Sophie was not that.  The book also goes into details of the various ranks, titles and offices in Austrian circle and what those technical terms means in a practical sense.  I was blown away that a “Countess” wasn’t seen as highly and I learned what a “lady-in-waiting” meant.  It was sad to read of how the Emperor and his advisor was set to humiliate and shame both Franz and Sophie for decades.  It is sad to read of how they didn’t let her sit next to him during official functions, didn’t let her walk down escorted and introduced during ceremonies and also made sure the Imperial military guards don’t salute her and left their residence whenever Franz departed and Sophie stayed home.  One dramatic episode include when the Shah of Iran visited and the court in Austria snubbed Sophie by having the door closed on her when distinguished guest was introduced and walked in.  The snub was at times too much for Franz but Sophie always encouraged him to be kind and patient.

The book explores Franz’ childhood and how Franz became the unlikely heir to the throne. Ferdinand’s life changed dramatically to a series of unfortunate events in the Royal family. Franz’ cousin Crown Prince Rudolf killed himself and left Franz Ferdinand’s father, Karl Ludwig, in line to the throne but then Karl died of typhoid fever leaving it to Franz next in line.  The book doesn’t mince words about how backwards the Austrian royal family was, beginning with the Emperor being anti-Technology and against progress, seeing it all as a threat to the present order.  He was against progress even if it meant things will be better for his people.  This kind of outlook is also reflected in the education of the Habsburg family and the narrorw and bigoted education Franz received is rather scary.  But Franz grew up and had a broader horizon because of his famous overseas travel including trips to India, China and America.  Commendably he tried to self-educate himself to be emperor even when there was nothing set up for him in that way.  Yet the author was also nuanced enough to state that Franz was far from being a progressive that we would like and that he still had certain set beliefs.  Still being conservative Franz was definitely willing to change.  As a result of his upbringing Franz and his wife Sophie parent their children differently and raised their kids to be happy.

Towards the end of the book a dark gloom start setting in because readers know that he will be assassinated.  I was surprised by how much details the book went over such as facts of Siberian involvement that is now pretty conclusive and the working of the nationalist extremist terrorist group called the Black Hand.  I was blown away at the various people’s account of how the Archduke before his death had a bad feeling about his visit to Sarajevo and he tried to get out of that visit various times and various ways including appealing directly to the Emperor himself.  But when the Emperor didn’t let him back out of his trip the Archduke went.  The amount of security for him was so minimal that even to this day some wonder if there’s a secret conspiracy (the book doesn’t lean towards that view).  I’m amazed at how there were assassination attempts on him right before he was killed and yet why security wasn’t beefed up.

Even after the couple’s death the Emperor and the Austrian court continued to snub at them; this was how low they were: they had a funeral that was of lesser prestige of someone fitting as a Crown prince and also didn’t allow other countries’ dignitaries to attend, giving poor excuses and contradictory reasons.  Even military officers and senior military generals were prohibited from attending.  The book also went over what suffering the kids went through after World War One and the injustice done to them for decades with Nazi Germany sending them to Concentration Camps, and the Soviets after the War.

Fascinating read and I recommend it.