Are you sure you want to delete this post?
June 28, 1914. That was a watershed moment in history, as Stephen King would say. The day that kickstarted the supposed "war to end all wars", better known today as World War 1.
On June 28th, 1914 Austro-Hungarian Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated by Gavrilo Princip, a 19-year-old Bosnian Serb, in a chance encounter made by an errant turn down Franz Josef Street in modern day Sarajevo. This kill by Princip started a series of events and decisions that dominoed the globe into World War I.
Many have guessed at what the world would be like today, if that 'watershed' moment hadn't of happened. What if Ferdinand left Sarajevo directly after his speech, instead of hanging around? What if Princip would have been caught in the failed assassination attempt BEFORE the successful one, only several minutes prior? What if? Would WWI not have happened? Or was it just this catalyst that happened to do it, while another would have just as likely happened if that one didn't? Were global tensions so tight and high during the summer of 1914 that a world war was inevitable no matter what?
Thinking of the concept of the 'Butterfly Effect', I gotta think that even if another 'watershed' type occurrence would have launched the world to war, that the world today would look very different, regardless of the big war to end all wars still inevitably taking place. Perhaps different lines would have been drawn in the sand. Maybe slightly different alliances would have been made/upheld. Maybe the actions of the few that shaped the world today (those in command) would have slightly different tempers flaring, on slightly different timelines, and who knows? Perhaps Germany wouldn't have been pushed to the brink AS much, leaving the chance for WWII a little less likely. Or more likely. Really hard to say. But interesting, I think to consider.
What if? That's what I want to talk about. It's 100 years later, almost to the very day... C'mon history buffs, dazzle me with your if-then logic. What if Gavrilo Princip DIDN'T assassinate Franz Ferdinand on the day of June 28th, 1914? What do you think the world would look like today? Better, worse or likely and mostly the same?