{"id":272,"date":"2026-06-11T06:39:19","date_gmt":"2026-06-11T06:39:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/atlaslivingmedia.com\/?p=272"},"modified":"2026-06-11T06:39:19","modified_gmt":"2026-06-11T06:39:19","slug":"great-war-the-immediate-response-to-franz-ferdinands-assassination-100-years-ago-today","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/atlaslivingmedia.com\/?p=272","title":{"rendered":"Great War: The Immediate Response to Franz Ferdinand\u2019s Assassination, 100 Years Ago Today"},"content":{"rendered":"<article>\n<div>\n<div>\n<article>\n<header>\n<div>\n<ul><li>Books &amp; the Arts<\/li><li>June 28, 2014<\/li><\/ul><h1>Great War: The Immediate Response to Franz Ferdinand\u2019s Assassination, 100 Years Ago Today<\/h1><h1>Great War: The Immediate Response to Franz Ferdinand\u2019s Assassination, 100 Years Ago Today<\/h1><h2><p><em>The Nation<\/em>\u2019s predictive capacities were pretty mixed.<\/p>\n<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/header>\n<section>\n<time>June 28, 2014<\/time>\n<div>\n<p>One century ago, at approximately 11 <span>am<\/span> local time, Austro-Hungarian Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated by Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip in the streets of Sarajevo. Tensions in the Balkans had been high since Austria-Hungary annexed Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1908, and <em>Nation<\/em> writer Simeon Strunsky had observed earlier in June that pressure from Slav nationalists was \u201cbound to increase.\u201d\t\t\t\t\n<p>But having predicted the event, albeit in very vague outline, did not make <em>The Nation <\/em>any more capable of perceiving its cataclysmic consequences. In the first <em>Nation <\/em>issue to be published after the assassination, dated July 2, 1914, it took the editors until the fifteenth item in the news-summary section to even mention what had happened in Sarajevo. \u201cThe crime is considered to have been the result of a plot by a section of the Serb inhabitants of Bosnia,\u201d they noted.\n<p>In a longer consideration a few pages later\u2014in an editorial titled \u201cThe Austrian Tragedy\u201d\u2014the editor Rollo Ogden tried to tease out some broader meaning from the archduke\u2019s death. If <em>The Nation<\/em> at all dimly perceived how the assassination might upend European politics and, within a matter of four weeks, mobilize armies of a size never before seen in the world, this would have been the place to mention it. This is how the editorial begins:\n<p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-270\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/atlaslivingmedia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/ccacefee7f8a4428c548d6512e6f894c-pdf-791x1024.jpg\" width=\"791\"\/><\/figure>\n\n<p>Ogden notes that an emperor in poor health might prove disadvantageous in what were sure to be unsettling days ahead: \u201cThe old Emperor will doubtless make an effort to keep the reins in his hands as long and as firmly as possible, but it is evident that Austria will have to face trials of a sort to test her strength and her international policy.\u201d\n<p>As for the assassination, <em>The Nation <\/em>disapproved\u2014and in terms quite familiar to us today:\n<p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-271\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/atlaslivingmedia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/9fd0b26f16117b1b90cbffde689eaa6b-pdf-792x1024.jpg\" width=\"792\"\/><\/figure>\n\n<p>* * *\n<p><em>Back Issues will be following this magazine\u2019s coverage of the \u201cGreat War\u201d\u2014in real time, a century later. <\/em>\n<p><em>Curious about how we covered something? E-mail me at <span>[email\u00a0protected]<\/span>. Subscribers to <\/em>The Nation<em> can access our fully searchable digital archive, which contains thousands of historic articles, essays and reviews, letters to the editor and editorials dating back to July 6, 1865.<\/em>\n<\/p><\/p><p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/atlaslivingmedia.com\/?p=266\">Is Graham Platner Fit to Be a US Senator?<\/a><\/p><\/p><\/p><\/p><\/p><\/p><\/p><\/p><\/p><p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/atlaslivingmedia.com\/?p=268\">Pope Leo\u2019s First Encyclical Is a Game Changer<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<footer>\n<ul>\n<li>\n\n                Submit a correction\n            \n<\/li>\n<li>\n\n                Send a letter to the editor\n            \n<\/li>\n<li>\n\n                Reprints &amp; permissions\n            \n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div>\n<div>\n<h2><i>Support <\/i>The Nation<i>\u2019s June Fundraising Campaign<\/i><\/h2>\n<p>With the midterm elections now firmly upon us, the question is whether Democratic candidates will do more than merely occupy ballot lines as mild alternatives to the red-hot crisis that is Donald Trump.<\/p>\n<p>As Trump spends over $1 billion a day on a globally destabilizing war on Iran and admits that he doesn\u2019t \u201cthink about Americans\u2019 financial situation,\u201d millions across the country are struggling with the surging costs of essentials. Democrats must seize this moment and advance bold, small-\u201cd\u201d populist ideas\u2014not settle for cynical caution that once again snatches defeat from the jaws of victory.<\/p>\n<p><i>The Nation<\/i> elevates progressive ideas, movements, and elected officials achieving real change across the country into the national conversation. At the same time, our journalists are exposing how crypto and AI-funded super PACs are spending hundreds of millions of dollars to knock out candidates they oppose, reporting on the devastating impact of the Supreme Court\u2019s evisceration of the Voting Rights Act, and sounding the alarm on attempts by red states to quickly redraw electoral maps, disenfranchising Southern Black voters.<\/p>\n<p><b>We can play this critical role because of support from readers like you. This June, we\u2019re raising $20,000 to power <i>The Nation<\/i>\u2019s independent journalism in the run-up to November\u2019s immensely consequential elections.<\/b><\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s in our power to build a more just society, and your support at this critical moment brings us closer to that bold vision. I hope you\u2019ll donate today.<\/p>\n<p>Onward, <br\/><br\/><span>Katrina vanden Huevel<br\/>Editor and Publisher, <i><span>The Nation<\/span><\/i><\/span><\/p> <\/div>\n<div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p><span> Richard Kreitner<svg>\n<\/svg>\n<\/span>Richard Kreitner is a contributing writer and the author of <em>Break It Up: Secession, Division, and the Secret History of America\u2019s Imperfect Union<\/em>. His writings are at richardkreitner.com.<\/p><p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/atlaslivingmedia.com\/?p=264\">Or to Put It Another Way: 100 Years Ago, We Were Already 50 Years Old<\/a><\/p><br\/>\n<\/div>\n<input\/>\n<input\/>\n<\/footer>\n<\/article>\n\n\n\nAd Policy\n<!-- <a class=\"inifiniteLoader\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/images\/new_infi_loader.gif\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a> -->\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Nation Magazine<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":269,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-272","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Great War: The Immediate Response to Franz Ferdinand\u2019s Assassination, 100 Years Ago Today - 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