Hello everyone!
I picked a slightly different book for my review tonight, mostly because a ) I honestly think it's an interesting read and wish it gets translated into English and b ) I never got around to finishing the book I was MEANT to review.
Oops?
Let's just say, the week going into Easter Weekend is having me hopping about like the Easter Bunny, only I'm not really carrying chocolate eggs with me, sadly.
Instead I feel like I'm all over the place, so you'll forgive me if this review post seems to be slightly pulled out of the magician's hat. I kind of feel as if I SHOULD be able to do a better job, but occasionally life does take the front row seat and everything else has to relocate.
In any event, however, I picked a Slovene book this time, which would roughly be titled Death of an Heir: Following Slovene Interpretations of the Sarajevo Assassination.
If you've guessed that this will be all about Archduke Franz Ferdinand, cookie for you!
A lot has been said about World War I already.
It's one of those themes that, unfortunately, never gets old, especially as family members pass personal stories and histories down through the generations, which aren't that far removed as one would think. Four years ago it'd only been a hundred years, which is what, exactly? A drop in the ocean in comparison to Time.
So this particular book, written by Andrej Rahten, isn't exactly a surprise to anybody.
In fact, it was specifically published in 2014 on the one hudredth anniversary of the Great War.
But what, exactly, is it about?
Well, precisely what the title says: despite the fact that so much ink has been spilled over the war and what sparked it, I don't think I've ever explicitly seen anything concerning the Slovene side of things. Or, as Slovene as you could get at the time, considering the circumstances.
This book does a fair job of bringing out and shaking off the dust bunnies from certain historic individuals who've somehow gotten lost in translation, but were Slovene of origin and held quite important roles in the Archduke's cabinet back in the day.
However, this won't exactly be a glorified blog post about them, because honestly, as much as I'm thrilled with the fact that they ARE mentioned, without an English translation they don't stand out to anyone but us, unfortunately. Because they weren't THAT big in history to really leave an imprint that would make the forces on both sides of the war to consider them, as otherwise they would've been glorified somewhere already.
Back to the actual book, however.
The author tries and, for the most part, succeeds in painting a picture of the Archduke that seems oddly contrasting and a pure paradox, as far as I was able to tell. Of course we first get to know the slight background of how Franz Ferdinand even became heir presumptive to the Austro-Hungarian throne (the reason being that, unfortunately, Franz Joseph's son and heir committed suicide) and how he ended up marrying someone that neither his father nor the Austrian elite approved, which always seemed to cause the poor Archduke problems later on, not that he seemed to care.
In fact, from all that's been written, it looks like he was a good, upstanding family man who loved his wife and children very much!
Then we go on, book-wise, to investigate the political atmosphere on the Balkans and under the Austrian rule, particularly concerning the Slavic peoples.
Which, again, for someone growing up in this area, is nothing new. There'd been wars on the Balkans for a much longer period of time before the Great War even showed its face on the horizon, but the difference was that, previously, passions had always been sort of quieted and calmed and everyone kind of went back into their holes, despite the fact that questions never really got solved, not entirely.
It seems amazing for some people to consider, but the Balkans was literally a cauldron ready to boil over with all the different peoples (who described themselves as peoples and nations and wanted their own rights right up there with the Austrians and Hungarians and the lot) vying for their slice of the pie, and how the Powers That Be didn't really feel like giving it.
Bottom line: the Slavic peoples were always considered less than the Germanic, or any of the others, at the very least south of Vienna.
The book goes on to describe the plans the Archduke had, which consisted of changing the dual system of Austria and Hungary to a triple style federation, per the book to stop the Serbian nation from engulfing portions that the Austrians didn't consider as theirs to take.
This, of course, sat VERY badly with a number of people who simply wanted the system to continue as is, no changes necessary - which was in a way like an ostrich buries its head in the sand.
The prevailing feeling, however, which I gathered from the entire book, was that the Archduke was killed in Sarajevo because he was vehemently against the looming war - and yet other parties clearly wanted it, so he had to be removed. Because it's clearly stated that the 'dogs of war' in Austria had often been curbed and controlled specifically by Franz Ferdinand, thus preventing a big boom from going off somewhere.
I can't say whether or not this is the truth - or that the actual assassination was the only likely cause for the Great War.
This book doesn't definitely answer those questions, either, instead painting the Archduke as someone who MIGHT have helped the Slavic peoples in their continuing struggle for independence. Whether or not THAT is true - and if he would have allowed more than what he was willing to give them when he ascended the throne - remains another unanswered question.
What the book does point out, however, is that there are a lot of WHAT IFS which were left behind with his death.
And we'll never know the answer to any of those, not definitely.
What remains are the facts: the Balkans area was unstable even before 1914; the Archduke and his wife were killed in Sarajevo, which finally divided the powers in Europe and caused them to declare an all-out war on each other; and that the war, which everyone thought would be over before they knew it, lasted longer, and killed more people, than anyone would have predicted.
xx
*image not mine
No comments:
Post a Comment