ALL FOR YOU, FRANZ? #KU_WWI Twitter Project: ASSASSINATION OF FRANZ FERDINAND ARCHDUKE tweeter guide PROJECT STAFF About the Project The #KU_WWI Twitter Project is a Twitter-based e-reenactment of CREES Outreach Coordinator the June 28, 1914 assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Adrienne Landry Sarajevo, the historical incident often cited as the initial geopolitical [email protected] event that resulted in the First World War. #KU_WWI Project Leader During Spring 2014, #KU_WWI “Call for Tweeters” will be held on Sam Moore the KU campus where students, faculty and staff can learn more [email protected] about World War I, and have an opportunity to become Twitter e- reenactors. Project Consultant Using this “#KU_WWI Guide” participants will develop e-reenact- Professor Nathan Wood ment characters, twitter handles, hashtags, and 140-character History Department tweets reenacting the assassination. WWI Planning Committee Chair Tweets created at these events will form an e-reenactment Mas- Professor Lorie Vanchena ter Script, which will tweet-out live on June 28, 2014, exactly 100 [email protected] years after the event. The public will be able to follow the reenactment on Twitter SPONSORSHIP through the hashtag #KU_WWI or through Twitter feeds on the crees.ku.edu and european.ku.edu websites. Event refreshments donated by: University Honors Program The #KU_WWI Twitter e-reenactment will include a creative storytell- ing component utilizing the strengths of the KU community. The e- Books donated by: reenactment will incorporate historical, geographical, literary and art Ermal Garinger Academic references both past and present, making the project a humanities Resource Center driven exploration of the events leading up to World War I. Department of Germanic Additionally, select tweets developed at the Call for Tweeters will Languages & Literatures be translated by KU students enrolled in language classes at KU — showcasing the diversity of the languages and cultures involved Professor Marc Greenberg, in World War I, and the languages and cultures taught at KU. A Slavic Languages special thanks to Marta Pirnat-Greenberg and her BCRS 208 In- & Literatures Department termediate Bosnian-Serbo-Croatian class for their help! Online analytics provided by: By inviting students to participate, the #KU_WWI Twitter Project European Studies Program will create an experiential learning opportunity to use social me- dia as a tool for engaging different academic skills; and integrate Technical assistance by: students and academic units from all over the KU campus for the Center for Global study of a single, historical event. & International Studies This project is part of the University of Kansas centennial com- Promotion by: memoration of World War I, coordinated by the European Stud- Global Awareness Program ies Program. Learn more about participating units and upcoming Hall Center for the Humanities programs at www.kuwwi.com. We greatly appreciate the support KU Libraries of the National World War I Museum and strongly encourage all KU Memorial Unions participants to check out their exhibit, On the Brink: A Month That Spencer Museum of Art Changed the World, March 15 - September 14, 2014. Thank you for participating and be sure to watch the reenactment online! June 28, 2014 @KU_WWI DOES it matter?—losing your legs?... For people will always be kind, #KU_WWI Guide And you need not show that you mind When the others come in after hunting So how did To gobble their muffins and eggs. the first world war begin? Does it matter?—losing your sight?... The First World War officially began on July 28th, There’s such splendid work for the blind; 1914 when Austria-Hungary declared war on And people will always be kind, the Kingdom of Serbia. But why did the Austro- As you sit on the terrace remembering Hungarian Empire declare war on Serbia? What And turning your face to the light. sparked this cataclysmic event? Do they matter?—those dreams from the pit?... The answer: the assassination of the heir to the You can drink and forget and be glad, Austro-Hungarian Empire, Archduke Franz Ferdi- And people won’t say that you’re mad; nand, in Sarajevo on June 28th, 1914. Franz and For they’ll know you’ve fought for your country his wife Sophie were killed while on a state visit to And no one will worry a bit. Bosnia, which was annexed just 6 years earlier by the Austro-Hungarian Empire. A young Bosnian Siegfried Sassoon, 1918 Serb, Gavrilo Princip, shot them on the corner of Franz Josef Street. The assassins claimed to be part of the Black Hand, a terrorist group that called for the liberation of Bosnia from Austro- One of the things that Hungarian rule. They wanted Bosnia, as well as drives me to study Herzegovina, Slovenia, Croatia, Macedonia and WWI, among other Montenegro to join with the Kingdom of Serbia, historical events, is the and form a pan-south slav Greater Serbia, or Yu- human drama behind goslav nation. it. Above is a poem from the British poet By the way, that’s what Yugoslav means in Bos- Siegfried Sassoon, nian, Croatian and Serbian languages: Yugo = who fought during South, so…you know, “South Slav.” What Princip WWI, entitled “Does it and other members of his terrorist group wanted Matter?”, which I think was a union of south Slavic peoples in Europe, a truly shows the idea of the human drama union realized in the formation of Yugoslavia a few behind the war. Here was a man that was years later…sort of. changed by his wartime experience. WWI is often overshadowed by the events that would come after it, but it still is an im- portant event. It is the event that begins the 20th century; a century of bloodshed, increas- ing globalization, and hope. Often the human element of history, the experiences of the people involved, are lost. These people lived and went through events that would change their lives. Part of my goal is for people to gain a better understanding of what these people went through. Sam Moore, Project Leader Background European climate Europe in the late 19th and early 20th centuries was a time of nationalism, militarism, and high tensions. The industrial revolution had led to new class divisions and restructuring. There was a great influx of people from rural farms to urban factories, making cities dirty and crowded. Ruling classes were falling out of favor and new political philosophies emerged that advocated for the proletariat. By 1914, heads of states coupled their Definition: na·tion·al·ism fears of social problems at home with fears of geopolitical noun instability. Seeking security, the European powers formed the belief that the nation should rule an alliance system that pitted them against each other itself; a feeling that people have of being in more or less equally matched blocs. Because of this loyal to and proud of their nation, often system, a localized conflict could in fact be the cause of with the belief that it is better and more a much wider war. The assassination in Sarajevo was the important than other nations. catalyst that set these blocs against each other, resulting in the overwhelming destruction that killed over 9 million people in combat and almost 17 million total. A war of alliances: who fought who? TRIPLE ALLIANCE: The only formal alli- ance between more than one nation was the Tripe Alliance between Germany, Austria- Hungary, and Italy. The terms of this alliance deemed that all three would, “go to war together if any one were attacked by two other states.” When Archduke Franz Ferdi- nand of Austria-Hungary was assassinated by a Serb terrorist group, Germany and Italy sided with them in their declaration of war on the Kingdom of Serbia. John Keegan, The First World War, ( New York: vs. Vintage Books, 1998), 52. TRIPLE ENTENTE: The other camp was not a formal alliance between three na- tions, but rather a loose system of alliances between Great Britain, France, and Rus- sia. Not as rigid as the Triple Alliance, the Triple Entente was still a system that would guarantee if one of these powers went to war then at least one other would as well. According to historian John Keegan, it is this mechanism that is commonly believed to have legalistically brought these nations together in war. So when Austria-Hungary declared war on the Kingdom of Serbia, Serbia’s ally Russia declared war on Austria- Hungary and Austria-Hungary’s ally Germa- ny declared war on Russia, and so on and so on… Background Who got shot? SUMMER 1914 Archduke Franz Ferdinand TIME LINE Franz Ferdinand was the June 28 Archduke of Austria and Assassination of Archduke Franz heir to the Austro-Hun- Ferdinand by Serb nationalists garian throne. His assas- in Sarajevo sination, June 28, 1914, is what precipitated the chain July 28 of events that lead to the Austria-Hungary declares war outbreak of WWI in August. on Serbia Ferdinand was the nephew of Austro-Hungarian Em- August 1 peror Franz Joseph, and Germany declares war on Russia became the heir presump- Germany and Turkey sign an alliance tive when his cousin Crown France mobilizes to support Russia Prince Rudolf committed suicide in 1889. Franz was not known for being particularly likeable. Pretty much everyone August 2 except his wife hated him. The Emperor and the imperial Germany Invades Luxembourg court disliked him because they thought he was too liberal – a dangerous reformer. The public didn’t like him because August 3 they thought he represented the conservative stagnation of Germany declares war on France the monarchy. Contemporary opinion called him “bigoted,” “overbearing” and “bad-tempered.” So imagine everyone’s August 4 surprise when Franzi fell in love, and overthrew the estab- Germany declares war on Belgium lished order so he could marry her.