Getting to the Guns of August: July 28, 1914, Austria declared war on Serbia

July 28, 2011

Wikipedia photo and caption: Austro-Hungarian troops executing captured Serbians, 1917. Serbia lost about 850,000 people during the war, a quarter of its pre-war population.

Wikipedia photo and caption: Austro-Hungarian troops executing captured Serbians, 1917. Serbia lost about 850,000 people during the war, a quarter of its pre-war population.

According to the Associated Press, today is the anniversary of the declaration of war that really got World War I started:  Austria declared war on Serbia on July 28, 1914.

Serbian nationalists assassinated Austrian Crown Prince Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sofie in Sarajevo, the traditional Serbian capital then held by Austria, the previous June.  After a summer of demands on Serbia by Austria, which Serbia could not or would not meet, Austria declared war.

More: 

6 Comments | History, World War I | Tagged: , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

Europe is a country? Whom the gods destroy . . .

February 15, 2008

No.  Europe is not a country.
Was it Euripides who said, “Whom the gods destroy, they first make mad?”  Does stupid count as mad?  We might have some concerns for our nation.
I’ve told my history students they’d better know the answer to this one.  It will show up on the test. 

Also, see this story in the New York Times, “Dumb and Dumber:  Are Americans hostile to knowledge?”

Tip of the old scrub brush to the Wayback Machine.

8 Comments | Education success, Geography - Political, Humor, Rampant stupidity | Tagged: , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell