This video is sponsored by Brilliant.
This educational platform has a great offer for our viewers, which you can learn about
at the end of this video!
Archduke Franz Ferdinand will forever go down in history as the man whose assassination
helped lead to the First World War.
However, what is less well known is the Franz Ferdinand’s painful story of undying romantic
love and a great tragedy that was to forever be overshadowed by the global conflict it
helped to spark.
The year is 1895 and Archduke Franz Ferdinand has just arrived in Pressburg, the residence
of his relatives Archduke Friedrich and Archduchess Isabella.
Over the past few months, he has made frequent and lengthy trips to the country estate.
The Archduchess was ecstatic, certain that Franz Ferdinand had fallen in love with her
eldest daughter, the beautiful Archduchess Marie Christine.
One day, after Franz Ferdinand had left for a hunting trip, Isabella found a gold pocket
watch that he had left behind.
She quickly opened it, expecting to find a picture of her daughter.
Instead she found a picture of her lady-in-waiting, Sophie Chotek.
Sophie Chotek did not have dynastic blood.
She was merely the 4th daughter of a minor noble Czech family.
Her family’s dire financial conditions had forced her to become a lowly ranked servant
for the Archduchess Isabella.
In the eyes of the royalty, she was ranked barely above a commoner, hardly a suitable
match for a royal heir in line to the throne of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
With Isabella’s discovery, news of the scandalous relationship swept through the empire.
The entire Habsburg dynasty united against the couple, with many members showing outright
contempt and hostility towards Franz Ferdinand and Sophie.
Some, such as the Archduchess Isabella, even attempted to sabotage their relationship.
The famously strong-willed Franz Ferdinand responded by declaring his intention to marry
Sophie.
His equally strong-willed uncle, Emperor Franz Joseph, refused to give him permission.
Emperor Franz Joseph’s had already seen his son and heir, Rudolf, kill himself and
his mistress rather than return to his unhappy marriage, so he harbored few sympathies for
Franz Ferdinand and Sophie.
The situation was further exacerbated by the death of Franz Ferdinand’s father in 1896,
which left Franz Ferdinand as the heir to the throne of Austria Hungary.
There the situation stood until 1899, when Emperor Franz Joseph finally relented.
He gave only one condition: the marriage was to be a monastic one.
His family would be treated as befitting of their lowly status.
Franz Ferdinand would never be allowed to sit next to his wife during official ceremonies,
carriage rides, and social events.
When Franz Ferdinand stood at the front of a royal procession, Sophie would be all the
way in the back next to the other servants.
Neither Sophie nor any of his children would receive any royal titles or privileges.
And no descendant of his would ever ascend to the throne of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
Franz Ferdinand accepted.
Only two members of the Habsburg family attended their marriage, Franz Ferdinand’s stepmother,
Archduchess Maria Theresa, and her daughter.
Despite the degrading circumstances, their 14 year long marriage was a happy one and
the couple produced three children.
In 1914, Franz Ferdinand decided to visit the Austrian territory of Bosnia along with
his wife.
Because it wasn’t an official state trip, Franz Ferdinand was allowed to ride in the
car with his wife.
While driving through the streets of Sarajevo on June 28, a Serbian nationalist group called
the Black Hand attempted to assassinate the couple.
The first attempt failed with only a few Bosnian civilians and Austrian soldiers as casualties,
but while on the way to the hospital to visit them, Franz Ferdinand’s driver took a wrong
turn.
The car stopped directly in front of Black Hand member Gavrilo Princip, who shot them
both.
Franz Ferdinand uttered his last words while clutching his lifeless wife, “Sophie dear,
don’t die!
Stay alive for the children.”
The couple were laid to rest on July 3.
Though lain side by side, Sophie’s body was placed 20 inches below Franz Ferdinand’s.
The military were forbidden from saluting the funeral carriage.
The couple’s three children were not allowed to attend the proceedings.
Neither the Emperor nor any foreign dignitary attended the funeral.
Three weeks later, on July 29, 1914, the Austro-Hungarian Empire declared war on Serbia and the First
World War began.
It is often said that the generals of the World War I didn’t learn from the experiences
of the past wars and that made it even bloodier.
The sponsor of this video Brilliant believes in learning from past mistakes and experiences.
Instead of passively listening to lectures, you get to master concepts by solving fun
and challenging problems and Brilliant provides the tools and framework you need to tackle
these challenges.
Brilliant’s thought-provoking content based around breaking up complexities into bite-sized
understandable chunks will lead you from curiosity to mastery.
So, what are you waiting for?
Support our channel and improve your learning capabilities.
Visit brilliant.org/KingsAndGenerals/ — or click the link in the description and sign
up for free.
The first 200 people will also get 20% off their annual premium subscription!
We will continue sharing short stories on the famous historical figures, so make sure
you are subscribed to our channel and pressed the bell button.
We would like to express our gratitude to our Patreon supporters and channel members,
who make the creation of our videos possible.
Now, you can also support us by buying our merchandise via the link in the description.
This is the Kings and Generals channel, and we will catch you on the next one.