In 1914, tensions in Serbia had reached a boiling point; the Black Hand terrorist group hatched a plan to assassinate Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria. This would, as we all know, trigger a runaway train leading to industrialised slaughter in World War 1. The group planning to kill Ferdinand had failed prior to Princip's successful bid; a grenade had failed to complete the task; the culprit then tried to commit suicide through a cyanide pill, but as it was out of date he began to violently vomit. He then attempted to drown himself... in an extremely shallow lake. The Black Hand terrorists were thus beginning to lose faith in there fateful task. Princip, disheartened at this failure, commiserated himself by buying one of the more eventful lunches of his life; he got a sandwich. Conveniently, as he bought this sandwich, the car carrying the archduke stopped right outside. Without hesitation he shot Ferdinand and his wife, setting into motion the system of imperial alliances which would plunge Europe into a four year long destructive war. WW1 was not caused because of one trigger, of course; there were a multitude of causes, yet the assassination of Ferdinand was the one which caused the prerequisite factors to explode, with viciously menacing consequences. Even in his moment of despair, Princip's insignificant choice of getting some lunch had possibly the greatest impact in modern history, showing how even the slightest - and seemingly meaningless - decision can be monumental in its ramifications. Like this article? Let us know in the comments section below.
A 21 year old History graduate looking for someone to listen to his ramblings. Lover of comic books, movies and all other superhero related things. Published in The Independent, always looking for interesting things to write about...Follow me on Twitter at @samclements1993, and check out my blog: http://samuelclements.wordpress.com/
