The John Batchelor Show

Saturday 25 October 2014

Air Date: 
October 25, 2014

 

Photo, above: The 1911 Gräf & Stift Double Phaeton automobile of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, in which he and his wife were assasinated; in the Heeresgeschichtliches Museum in Vienna.

Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie were invited to watch Bosnian Serbian troops on maneuvers scheduled for 26 and 27 June 1914.  On 28 June the royal couple arrived from Ilidža by train and went to Philipovic army camp where Franz Ferdinand performed a brief review of the troops. Oskar Potiorek, Eighth Governor of Bosnia and Herzegovina, was waiting to take the royal party to the city hall (present-day National and University Library of Bosnia and Herzegovina) for the official reception. Franz Ferdinand, his wife and several officials switched into a six-car motorcade driving down Appel Quay along Miljacka River without further security measures. Potiorek was in the second car, a Gräf & Stift open six-seater driven by Leopold Lojka, together with the owner Count Harrach and the royal couple. At 10:10, when the vehicles passed the central police station, assassin Nedeljko Cabrinovic hurled a hand grenade at the archduke's car. Lojka accelerated when he saw the object flying towards the car, the grenade bounced off the coachwork and exploded under the wheel of the next car, wounding the passengers and several spectators.

"Ferdinand - and his wife Sophie - were killed by Serb nationalist Gavrilo Princip while on a formal visit to Sarajevo. Princip shot Ferdinand at point blank range while the latter was travelling in his car from a town hall reception, having earlier that day already survived one assassination attempt. Standing on the car's sideboard was Count Franz von Harrach. A witness to Ferdinand's assassination he subsequently recounted the events of the day."

Credit: courtesy of the smithsonianmag.com.

JOHN BATCHELOR SHOW

Hour One

Saturday 25 October  2014 / Hour 1, Block A: The Zimmermann Telegram: Intelligence, Diplomacy, and America's Entry into World War I, by Thomas Boghardt (1 of 4)

Saturday 25 October  2014 / Hour 1, Block B: The Zimmermann Telegram: Intelligence, Diplomacy, and America's Entry into World War I, by Thomas Boghardt (2 of 4)

Saturday 25 October  2014 / Hour 1, Block C: The Zimmermann Telegram: Intelligence, Diplomacy, and America's Entry into World War I, by Thomas Boghardt (3 of 4)

Saturday 25 October  2014 / Hour 1, Block D: The Zimmermann Telegram: Intelligence, Diplomacy, and America's Entry into World War I, by Thomas Boghardt (4 of 4)

Hour Two

Saturday 25 October  2014 / Hour 2, Block A: Enduring Courage: Ace Pilot Eddie Rickenbacker and the Dawn of the Age of Speed, by John F. Ross (1 of 4)

Saturday 25 October  2014 / Hour 2, Block B: Enduring Courage: Ace Pilot Eddie Rickenbacker and the Dawn of the Age of Speed, by John F. Ross (2 of 4)

Saturday 25 October  2014 / Hour 2, Block C: Enduring Courage: Ace Pilot Eddie Rickenbacker and the Dawn of the Age of Speed, by John F. Ross (3 of 4)

Saturday 25 October  2014 / Hour 2, Block D: Enduring Courage: Ace Pilot Eddie Rickenbacker and the Dawn of the Age of Speed, by John F. Ross (4 of 4)

Hour Three

Saturday 25 October  2014 / Hour 3, Block A: A Mad Catastrophe: The Outbreak of World War I and the Collapse of the Habsburg Empire, by Geoffrey Wawro (1 of 8)

Saturday 25 October  2014 / Hour 3, Block B: A Mad Catastrophe: The Outbreak of World War I and the Collapse of the Habsburg Empire, by Geoffrey Wawro (2 of 8)

Saturday 25 October  2014 / Hour 3, Block C: A Mad Catastrophe: The Outbreak of World War I and the Collapse of the Habsburg Empire, by Geoffrey Wawro (3 of 8)

Saturday 25 October  2014 / Hour 3, Block D: A Mad Catastrophe: The Outbreak of World War I and the Collapse of the Habsburg Empire, by Geoffrey Wawro (4 of 8)

Hour Four

Saturday 25 October  2014 / Hour 4, Block A: A Mad Catastrophe: The Outbreak of World War I and the Collapse of the Habsburg Empire, by Geoffrey Wawro (5 of 8)

Saturday 25 October  2014 / Hour 4, Block B: A Mad Catastrophe: The Outbreak of World War I and the Collapse of the Habsburg Empire, by Geoffrey Wawro (6 of 8)

Saturday 25 October  2014 / Hour 4, Block C: A Mad Catastrophe: The Outbreak of World War I and the Collapse of the Habsburg Empire, by Geoffrey Wawro (7 of 8)

Saturday 25 October  2014 / Hour 4, Block D: A Mad Catastrophe: The Outbreak of World War I and the Collapse of the Habsburg Empire, by Geoffrey Wawro (8 of 8)