If there was no assassination in Sarajevo in 1914, which was the trigger for the First World War, the old continent could have developed into a confederation during the 20th century, as advocated by the Austrian Crown Prince Franz Ferdinand, according to a British historian who deals with European history from the beginning of the last century.
“Ferdinand was shocked by the decision to annex Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1908 because he knew in advance that this would cause tensions in the Balkans, but nobody asked him about it. His political idea was to create something he called the United States of Europe, modeled on the United States of America, whereby in the Austrian monarchy each country would have a certain degree of independence,” historian Sue Woolmans said at a promotion of the Slovenian translation of the book “The Murder of Franz Ferdinand – Sarajevo, a romance that changed the world,” which she co-authored with American historian Greg King.
It describes the intimate side of the life of the archduke, his love for the nobleman of the lower rank of Sofia, whom he married and, therefore, alienated himself from the court and the imperial family, Ferdinand’s political ideas and his relationship with his elderly father, the emperor Franz Josip.
The presentation of the book was attended by Ferdinan’s granddaughter, princess Sophie von Hohenberg, whose family memories and archives were included in the book.
She said that she read much about the history of her family and her great-grandfather, but also learned from her relatives, who sometimes talk about family memories and the unhappy fate Franz Ferdinand and Princess Sofia.
During the time in which Franz Ferdinand lived, he expressed relatively modern views and Slavic nations were attracted to ideas about the trialogistic organization of the monarchy, which in the future meant to balance the complicated relations in it, according to some Slovene historians.
(Source: Fokus.ba)
