“Bosnia and Herzegovina” is located on the Balkan Peninsula in southern Europe. Its full name is Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is an unnamed small country with an area of only 50,000 square kilometers. But its capital is very famous, because here, Sarajevo shocked the world.
The Sarajevo incident must be familiar to many people. Strictly speaking, it was an assassination of the crown prince of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and history defined it as the fuse of the First World War.
The Sarajevo incident has attracted worldwide attention. The male protagonist is Grand Duke Ferdinand, the heir of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, but few people will mention the female protagonist of this incident alone, the wife of Grand Duke Ferdinand: Sophia. At the time, Ferdinand was a veritable prince of the Empire, while Sofia was just a civilian. Even, she was just a maid of the Duchess’ house, a 30-something old virgin who looked to ordinary people to be useless.
But since Sophia met Ferdinand, everything has changed. The young prince took heart to her and began to visit her frequently by taking advantage of the chance to be a guest at the Duchess’s house. The paper package couldn’t keep the fire, and later things were revealed without any surprises. This pair of lovers with disparity in status and status seemed too shocking at the time, and hardly anyone understood it. But the secular vision and the pressure of public opinion could not stop the pace of Duke Ferdinand’s courtship. Sophia naturally couldn’t resist the prince’s love offensive, and the two soon fell in love.
On June 18, 1900, in front of many prominent figures in the Habsburg dynasty, Grand Duke Ferdinand swore: “He, Sofia’s descendants, and descendants of descendants will permanently abandon the succession to the throne of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.” Three days later. , He married Sophia as he wished.
The married life of Archduke Ferdinand and Sofia was very harmonious. They gave birth to two children and a daughter. Archduke Ferdinand loved his children very much. But Sophia, who was born humble, never got the treatment she deserved. She could not participate in the state banquet, could not ride with her husband to participate in the royal parade, and was not even allowed to sit in the same box with her husband in public.
On June 28, 1914, 14 years later, perhaps to commemorate this special day, or perhaps to give some respect and supplement to the marginalized wife, Grand Duke Ferdinand brought Sofia to Sarajevo in the name of a military visit. , Planning to spend an unforgettable honeymoon. Here, the emperor is far away, and the strict royal rules of the Austro-Hungarian Empire can finally be temporarily put aside. They traveled in the same carriage, walked around the antique market like ordinary young couples, and went to the church for mass. . He also sent a telegram to the children, telling them that Mom and Dad will go home next Tuesday. If time continues to flow like this, then many years later, people will see a realistic version of the story of a prince falling in love with Cinderella.
However, it is regrettable that June 28 is not only the day when Prince Ferdinand swears for love. In the Battle of Kosovo on June 28 in 1389, the Serbian kingdom, which was at its peak in the Middle Ages, was defeated by the Ottoman Empire. Since then, the Serbs have been enslaved for five hundred years. Although the Turks withdrew from Serbia after 1912, this day is still an unforgettable day of national shame for the Serbs. Now, the Crown Prince of the Austro-Hungarian Empire chose to visit Sarajevo on this day. In many people’s eyes, it was a provocation to Serbia and a reminder of their humiliation over the past hundreds of years.
So an assassination operation began to be laid out quietly. A grenade fell behind the car of Duke Ferdinand and his wife, wounding the people in the convoy. Duke Ferdinand calmly asked his wife to leave first, but he changed his plan to visit the wounded in the hospital. But Sophia was worried and asked him to go to the hospital together. The failing nationalists do not give up. In the end, a 19-year-old Serbian youth shot a revolver bullet into Archduke Ferdinand’s neck and Sophia’s abdomen. After being shot, Archduke Ferdinand vomited blood, and he still called: “My dear Sophia, for the sake of the children, don’t die.”
Ironically, Grand Duke Ferdinand has always sympathized with the Yugoslav remnants of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, including the Serbs, and advocated giving them more autonomy. And his wife Sophia is an ordinary woman without any political background and power relations. But so what, the status of the Austro-Hungarian crown prince determines that he must become a victim of Serbian and Turkish national hatred.
Although for many people, Archduke Ferdinand and Sofia are just two cold names in history textbooks. But behind the gunshots in Sarajevo is a loving couple fighting against the world, a broken fairy tale that is unfortunately ruined by politics and hatred.
