History repeats itself

Did you know that the exact same thing that happened to JFK occurred exactly fifty years before?  Well, please allow me to elucidate…

Archduke Ferdinand, next in line for the Austrian throne, was shot and killed in 1914.  Gavrilo Princip fired the fatal shot.  He was a Bosnian Serb, member of Young Bosnians who sought an end to Austro-Hungarian rule in Bosnia and Herzegovina.”

The plan was for three men to fire pistols and throw bombs at the coach the archduke and his wife were riding in.  Three different angles of attack insure that at least one of the participants had a clear shot. 

After the Archduke’s speech at the city hall, the consorts decided it would be appropriate to go visit the hospital to see injured soldiers.  A little further on, the man in charge of security advised not to take the main route that went through the city centre, and instead suggested taking a secondary route.  The driver slowed in order to take a very sharp turn, and then began to reverse out of the street.

The vehicle turned onto Franz Joseph Street.  Apparently, the car drove once again in the wrong direction and ended up outside a sandwich shop.  Gavrilo Princip emerged from the store, having just bought his lunch, drew two pistols and fired at the royal car.  Franz Ferdinand was killed by a bullet in the neck, whereas his wife was shot in the abdomen. 

So, let’s put those pieces together, shall we?  We have the leader of a country who is young, handsome and striving for peace.  He has a beautiful wife who supports social projects.  They are riding in an open car.  There is a last minute change of the route which slows down the procession.  There are three assassins using the military tactic of triangulation.  The first shot hits the Arch Duke in the neck.  The man who fired the shot was very young and idealistic. 

“Does any of that sound familiar?”

Some of the elements in the Archduke’s assassination were repeated in Dallas in 1963, almost exactly fifty years later.

Some?  How about all?

Shopping Basket