SARAJEVO ANYONE?
Events in the Middle East are escalating rapidly. The latest spark was the involvement of one Gilad Shalit, a lone Israeli soldier, on June 25, abducted by agents of the militant Hezbollah fighters, who hold seats in the Lebanese government.
Let's revisit a time 92 years ago, two years after the Titanic went down. You might want to compare the dates, then, and now as they unfold; the similarity is unavoidable.
1914
June 28, one Gavrilo Princip, another lone individual and a Bosnian Serb, was captured by law enforcers of the Empire of Austria-Hungary for assassinating their Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife.
The military was mostly on leave at the time, and three weeks were allowed to go by during behind-the-scenes activity. The Empire was looking for justice for this insult to their sovereignty, and obtained the support of a powerful ally, Germany.
July 23. The Empire sent an ultimatum to Serbia, which demanded, among other things, that Austrian agents would take part in the investigation of the murder, but that Serbia would take responsibility for it.
The Serbian government obtained the support of Russia. They said no problem about the inquiry, but no way would they allow the participation of Austrian agents on Serbia's territory. So far, sounds reasonable, sort of.
Then see what happened.
Diplomatic relations fell apart, and they all decided to play hardball with each other.
July 28. The Empire declared war on Serbia.
July 29. The Empire bombarded Serbia's capital city Belgrade, and ordered general mobilization. So that same day, Russia ordered general mobilization.
July 31. The Germans, having pledged support to Austria-Hungary, sent Russia an ultimatum to stop mobilization within 12 hours.
August 1, with the ultimatum expired, Germany declared war on Russia.
August 2, Germany with warlike ambitions to the West, saw this as an opportunity. Germany wanted free passage through Belgium, on its way to France, to make faces at England, ignoring the neutrality of Luxembourg and Belgium.
August 3, Germany declared war on France.
August 4, Germany invaded Belgium, and England, guaranteeing Belgian neutrality, declared war on Germany.
The deeds were done. Millions lost their lives.
The difference between then and now? The size and effectiveness of the weapons. Casualties, then millions now billions.
The difference between the belligerents' mindsets?
None. None.
