Yesterday this famous assassination of Austria's Archduke Ferdinand and his wife changed the modern world. This act touched off the growing tensions between the European world powers into a world war that devastated countries and killed/wounded millions of lives and reshaped the political landscape of Europe. Those events still reverberate today and are tied to the outbreak of the second world war.
It has been a 100 years since this event and for most, these days, the First World War does not even begin to be understood or remembered (at least here in the United States).
Take a moment and remember all of those who fight, died, were wounded and for all of those civilians who suffered during this devastating war.
One can argue that the aftermath of both WW1 and WW2 also played a large role in the unsettled conditions in the Middle ERast decdes ater as well.
ReplyDeleteBoth of my grandfathers served as Sergeants in the Marines in WW1; my maternal grandfather tought himself French while he was there, and after the war worked as a French/English translator at the French Embassy in Senegal for several years!. We didn't learn that until about 6 years ago. It explains why we had a vintage 1880's rifle and a pair of Rhinoceros tusks om the wall in the study in my parent's home!