Just read about the final years of Gavrilo Princip

1,396 Views | 4 Replies | Last: 1 yr ago by aalan94
Windy City Ag
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AG
We all obviously know the guy but I had never read up on what happened to him after his killing of the Archduke and setting off WW1.

The Austrian legal system had similar juvenile statutes as we do today, but 20 was the age of adulthood. He was therefore only sentenced to the maximum available prison term of 20 years under that legal code. He was going to walk free 39 years of age.

They stuck him in a solitary confinement cell in a military prison and chained to a wall most days.He did have visits from a psychiatrist (very Austrian of that era), and Princip spent most of his time trying to rationalize the resulting damage of WW1 and shirking any responsibility he had in the subsequent events.

He was obviously mistreated, because he died after 3 years wracked with Lung disease and weighing only 88 lbs. I can't think of many worse ways to go . . . .being slowly starved in disease ridden conditions with a pysch guy asking you how you felt about unleashing a war that killed tens of millions of people.

No big point here except that our current debate about juvenile sentencing is an age old issue, and there are things worse than a death sentence.

I don't know if I feel bad for the guy, but a terrible way to go

TXAG 05
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AG
That is something to think about. I believe WWI was inevitable, but to be the guy that lit the match that changed the world forever. Damn. He didn't live long enough to even see the end of the war, let alone the aftermath and then WW2.
Sapper Redux
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I do feel worse for him than I do Franz Ferdinand (though I don't feel bad overall for Princep). It was the struggling autocrats who brought about World War I, not Princep. It's not like he randomly decided to shoot the Archduke one random day for no reason.
Windy City Ag
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AG
Quote:

I do feel worse for him than I do Franz Ferdinand (though I don't feel bad overall for Princep). It was the struggling autocrats who brought about World War I, not Princep. It's not like he randomly decided to shoot the Archduke one random day for no reason.

Totally agree but it is hard to feel sorry for either party. Princip was not a stoic, inspirational agent of change. He was one in a very long line of hyped up, pseudo-intellectual revolutionaries that deployed violence in an unsuccessful attempt to force political change.

Whether it was him, or the Baader Meinhoff kids, or Che Guevara, all you really got was a bunch of folks shot with nothing to show for it.
aalan94
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Quote:

I do feel worse for him than I do Franz Ferdinand (though I don't feel bad overall for Princep). It was the struggling autocrats who brought about World War I, not Princep. It's not like he randomly decided to shoot the Archduke one random day for no reason.
I get it, but want to play devil's advocate. Say you are part of a group with a political grievance. It can be anything. Can be Black Lives Matter or a pro-second amendment group. Once you decide to step up to the level of violence (like Timothy McVeigh), you move the argument in very different areas, and often create a backlash. History is replete with low level unrest movements or even insurgencies that don't make the spectacular leap to full-out war, so I don't think WW1 was inevitable.

The trigger that caused everything to blow up is supposedly Germany's guarantee to Austria, but that's actually the second step. Germany gave the guarantee because Austria knew Russia would declare war. But what really blew up Europe was the Dual Alliance between France and Russia. Interestingly, France stood by Russia, but had done absolutely zero 10 years before against Japan, when the same treaty was in place. So there was an interpretation of the treaty on the part of the French.

A lot going on here, but it reminds me that I need to go back and re-read "The Guns of August." A phenomenal book.
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