[lit-ideas] Re: The de-islamization of Europe
- From: David Ritchie <ritchierd@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 19 Jan 2007 15:21:06 -0800
On Jan 19, 2007, at 1:05 PM, Lawrence Helm wrote:
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<x-tad-bigger>There was the IMRO, a terrorist organization set up to force the Ottoman Empire to implement Article 23 of the Treaty of Berlin. But as far as I know, Gavrilo Princip acted on his own, and his act was called “assassination,” and not “terrorism.”</x-tad-bigger>
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I have recommended before Svetlana Palmer and Sarah Wallis, "Intimate Voices from the First World War." Chapter one opens with Franz Ferdinand's after-dinner toast, "To peace! What would we get out of war with Serbia? We'd lose lives of young men and we'd spend money better used elsewhere. And what would we gain, for heaven's sake? A few plum trees, some pastures full of goat droppings, and a bunch of rebellious killers."
And on the next page is a letter from prison, written by Vaso Cubrilovic, one of Gavrio Princip's co-assassins, to his sisters. Cubrilovic is quite clear that there was a conspiracy and that Princip's act came at the end of several attempts, including what the British army calls "an own goal." "At about 10 o'clock I saw a procession of cars approaching our direction. Ferdinand's car was the first, instead of an escort car. I can see them clearly even now. I saw Ferdinand greeting the crowd, touching his cavalry hat. Next to him sat his wife. She was dressed all in white and was holding a parasol. I asked a student who stood next to me wheer this was definitely Ferdinand, and he confirmed it was. I took a few steps back towards the wall to throw my bomb, but the car was already right in front of me. All of a sudden I heard a loud crack, as if from a gun. I stopped, realising someone had thrown a bomb. I saw it hit the lowered roof of the car, bounce off and fall, just a few steps away from me. I could see it smoking and hissing like a steam engine. In an instant I threw myself to the ground. The heir [F.F.] turned to see what was happening and the car stopped just feet away from Gavrilo [Princip] and Cvjetko [Popovic], but in the confusion they did nothing. Fortunately, I was unharmed but almost everyone around me was wounded. The explosion made all six of us run in different directions. Then I ran to Cemalusa street, for I was hoping to get Ferdinand there."
The first attempt failed. Ferdinand insists on continuing the journey and, once the welcoming ceremony is finished, asks to be taken to the hospital so that he may visit people who were wounded in the morning's explosion. It is on that journey that the driver turns down a cul-de-sac and that Gavrilo Pincip finds himself, quite accidentally, beside the stationary car. Seeing this as a sign, he leaps on the running board and fires. The letter continues, "I wish to add to this that we never intended to shoot Ferdinand's wife, we wanted to exact revenge on [General] Potiorek for introducing martial law in 1912-13...[snip]...To tell you the truth, we were all somewhat exhilarated by then. We were determined, yes, but we couldn't see straight. What we did we did out of our own free will, and yet I cannot help feeling that some stronger impulse drove us. Even now it seems that it wasn't us at all who did it, that it was someone else altogether. Our trial reinforced that impression. [snip] It was our misfortune that none of us was maturer. The oldest was Ilic, but at 24 he too was practically a child. It was especially true of me and Popovic. We were determined to kill Ferdinand, but we weren't ready for such deeds. They require maturity, a cool head and caution, traits we could not have had at 17 or 18 years of age. Besides, we had no counsel, no one to encourage us, unlike the three who prepared in Serbia. [Of the seven in the conspiracy, three had been recruited and trained by the Black Hand in Serbia and sent to Bosnia on a mission to carry out the assassination]. But even they said they had hesitated. Cabrinovic told me he didn't know how he took the bomb and threw it. The same was true of Princip. Of us all he was the coolest, the best mentally prepared. He carried out the attack mechanically--this much is obvious when you analyse the assassination." pp 7--9.
David Ritchie,
Portland, Oregon
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