Assassinations—Anyone?

During the 1800’s we learned about the many unjust conditions

that existed in both the United States and Europe.

Objectives

• You will be able to identify the conditions that led assassinations of world leaders during the time of 1890-1914.

• You will learn about various assassinations that occurred during this time period.

• You will learn how the assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand ultimately triggered World War I.

Child labor, poor working conditions, miserable slums were all part the of the era both in the

United States and abroad…

But now, we will focus a bit

more on Europe. If we

look at the map of Europe,

it is a very crowded

continent.

It is full of people who speak different languages, have

different cultures, and different religions.

Prior to 1517—there was only one religion, and that was the Catholic

Church.

But after 1517,

there was a new

religion, and it was

called Lutheranis

m.

Calvinism (or

Puritanism) split off

from Luther.

Henry VIII split the English Catholic Church and formed his own church

—he called it the Church of England. He was now the head—

not the pope!

Many people were unhappy with the religious turmoil in Europe,

including the Pilgrims. They came to America so they could worship

freely.

So—it is safe to say, that for many years in Europe, Religion was a

source of turmoil. But by the late 1800’s there were other reasons

for people to be upset…

During the 1800’s, two major countries formed themselves out

of several smaller countries—what were those countries?

Yes, Italy and Germany.

The “fight” for unification took many lives. That is why so many Germans and Italians left Europe and came to the United States.

In Europe, there were other groups of people who were controlled by larger nations. They wanted to be

free, they wanted to form their own mini-nations.

This desire was called Nationalism.

But there were other ideas that would cause turmoil—another idea was Communism—that all should

be equal and that the people should own the private means of

production.

Another idea was Anarchism. This idea was based on the ideas that if

governments were bad, it would take too much time to change the

government.

A way to change things might be to assassinate leaders….

So what is you combine the ideas of Anarchism, Communism and Nationalism—what do you get?

Upheaval and insecurity.

During the late 1800’s and early 1900’s many leaders

were assassinated.• Empress Elizabeth of Austria was

stabbed on the street. She fell over—then died minutes later.

Assassinations can change the course of history, when Abraham Lincoln was shot, the South went through a difficult reconstruction.

In fact, this time has been called the “Age of Anarchy” or “Age of

Assassinations.”

In 1894, The President of France was shot by an Italian

anarchist.

In 1896, The Shah of Persia was assassinated by an Islamic

Fundamentalist.

In 1900, The King of Italy was shot and killed by a man who

was against his policies.

Even our own President McKinley was shot by an

anarchist here in America in 1901!

The list goes on—President of France 1894Shah of Persia 1896President of Uruguay 1896Prime Minister of Spain 1897President of Guatemala 1898Empress of Austria 1898President of Dominican Republic 1899King of Italy 1900President of the USA (McKinley) 1901King and Queen of Serbia 1903Prime Minister of Greece 1905Prime Minister of Bulgaria 1907Prime Minister of Persia 1907King of Portugal 1908Prime Minister of Egypt 1910Prime Minister of Russia 1911Prime Minister of Spain 1912President of Mexico 1913King of the Hellenes 1913Archduke Franz Joseph 1914 Starts World War I.

In 1903, the King and Queen of Serbia were stabbed to death

and their bodies were mutilated.

The were killed by a sinister organization called THE BLACK HAND

The Prime Minister of Bulgaria was killed in 1907 by those

who were jealous of his nationalist beliefs.

In 1907, 1908, and 1910, the Prime Minister of Persia, the

King of Portugal, and the Prime Minister of Egypt were all

assassinated!

In 1911—the Prime Minister of Russia, Stolypin, was shot and

killed while he was at the Theater!

In 1912, the Prime Minister of Spain was killed—

followed by the President of Mexico in 1913.

And let’s not forget the King of Greece, who was also killed in

1913. Wow, is this list ever going to end?

But by far the most famous

assassination was the murder of

the Archduke

and Archduchess of Austria

—Franz Ferdinand

and his wife Sophie.

Their assassination was the “Spark” that ignited a World

War—World War I...

We will learn more about this is our film—The Shot that fire the

Great War.

Their assassination prompted other countries to take sides—soon countries joined against each other and fell like

dominoes into the war.

The assassins were mostly

young, and male. They were

discontent. Few had families—

many were dying of Tuberculosis.

And sadly, they were, at times, successful in causing upheaval.

Though many of the assassinations brought about some change, it was this last assassination which brought Europe into a World War I.

To review:

•Youth + Anger + new ideas of nationalism, anarchism, and communism

•World War I!