World War I, the Russian Revolution, the Great Depression, World War II, the Cold War, the Vietnam War and the bombing of the Twin Towers are all directly related to the events discussed in last week’s Then and Now lecture.

Every October means FANFARE is upon us and every Wednesday this month, a new lecture related to the arts and humanities will be presented in Pottle auditorium. Last week on Oct. 8, Dr. Craig Saucier gave a lecture on the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary.

The lecture began with a recap on eastern European history.  At the time of Ferdinand’s assassination, Austria-Hungary and their neighboring country Serbia held a great deal of tension between them because both wanted the territory of Bosnia, which was owned by Austria-Hungary at the time. 

“For Franz Ferdinand, he would probably be happy to see them go, but they’re not gonna go anywhere so what he wants to do is give them autonomy. His way of thinking is we give the southern Slovs, [which are the] Bosnians, Serbians, Croads, Slovians and mostly Serbians, a certain amount of control over their own affairs, they’ll be content. They won’t want to join Serbia,” said Saucier. 

This was not the case, however.  

“The Slovs are becoming a political problem because the Serbs want this peninsula to become a part, formally of Serbia not of Austria-Hungary,” said Saucier.

This desire eventually created extremist groups called the Black Hand and Young Bosnia which devoted themselves to the union of Bosnia and Serbia. 

In effort to keep the peace, Ferdinand was to go to Sarajevo in Bosnia, but the trip took a turn for the worst. Serbian Terrorist groups plotted to murder Ferdinand in an effort to weaken the government.

Ferdinand and his wife Sophie, Duchess of Hohenburg had a carefully planned trip that was published in local newspapers. It included an itinerary that said they would arrive by train, take a ride down a road called the Apple Quay down to City Hall, then go back. The trip was hosted by Oscar Potiorik.

Because this information was open to everyone, members of Young Bosnia saw it and devised a plan. 

On the Apple Quay, the first attempt was made on Ferdinand’s life when Nedeljko Cabrinovic threw a bomb at the convertible Ferdinand was riding in. The bomb bounced off of the folded top of the car and exploded under the tire of the car behind him.

While in route back from town hall, Gavrilo Princip, a 19 year old member of Young Bosnia stood amid a crowd where Ferdinand’s car happened to be idling for a few moments. Princip took the opportunity to shoot Ferdinand and Potiorik, but he missed Potiorik and hit the duchess.

She and her husband both died that day. It was their 14th wedding anniversary. They left three children orphaned and the instability of the government snowballed into the First World War not long after.

The next FANFARE lecture will be given by Jeff Wiemelt and entitled “J.R.R. Tolkien, History and the Mythological Imagination” which will be held in Pottle Auditorium at 1 p.m. on Oct. 15.