That American Century

A Day That Shook the World | Ep 1

• SNB Media • Season 1 • Episode 1

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0:00 | 28:07

The Assassination of Franz Ferdinand | 

On what day did the 20th century begin? Franz Ferdinand is shot in Sarajevo on June 28, 1914 by South Slav nationalist Gavrilo Princip, and the world changes forever. Americans read the shocking details the following morning, June 29, and wonder if there will be another war in the Balkans. Could an even greater conflict erupt in Europe? 

When the Great War begins in August 1914, President Wilson declares the U.S. neutral, however, the Allied powers are soon granted credit from JP Morgan & Co. to buy American-made guns, munitions, and artillery. Can the U.S. really call itself neutral? 

Another story breaks on June 29, 1914. American businesses have been fomenting and financing the revolution in Mexico. 

The Great War and the Mexican Revolution happen concurrently, American businesses profit from both, and the first roots of That American Century take hold.

Music from Epidemic Sound.

Sources for this episode include:

Shannon

A day that shakes the world. In nineteen fourteen, a political assassination will plunge Europe into crisis. World history takes a sharp turn. United States history takes a sharp turn.

Christopher Plummer

On what date did the twentieth century begin? Now what sort of question is that? Isn't that rather obvious? With respect to your Imperial Highness, make it all obvious.

Shannon

I'm Shannon. And I'm Bobby. And this is that American Century. And it's about the day that Archduke Franz Ferdinand is assassinated in Sarajevo. The event that leads Austria-Hungary to declare war on Serbia and Russia, which leads Germany to declare war on Russia, which leads England to declare war on Germany, then France to declare war on Austria-Hungary, etc., etc. The Great War, World War I, 1914 to 1918, is a very important time in US history, and it's often glazed over. For the first two and a half years of fighting, the US remains neutral. When the war begins in August 1914, President Woodrow Wilson will say to the American people, the United States must be neutral in fact as well as in name during these days that are to try men's souls. But could the United States, the largest industrial power on the planet in 1914, really be neutral? The US will eventually enter the war officially in April 1917. It is a time of great division, high drama, high tension. Constitutional rights will be challenged. Immigrant groups will be targeted. University professors are fired for radical left anti-war opinions. An opposition to the president's policies could land you up to 20 years in prison.

Bobby

Hopefully we got it all out of our system then, and nothing like that has happened since, right?

Shannon

Armed troops will patrol American cities. Vigilante groups will patrol American cities. City police forces create red squads that surveil and target leftists. And while American soldiers are fighting in Europe to make the world safe for democracy. Democracy at home is in peril. A lot happens.

Bobby

Sounds like it sounds pretty action-packed.

Shannon

The Great War will have Americans asking themselves, what role should the United States play in the world? Few can agree. And fear will poison our better senses.

In the news - June 29, 1914

Shannon

From the Chicago Tribune. June 29th, 1914. Indian battle in movie causes death of woman. A moving picture of a thrilling battle between Indians and cowboys was being displayed when at the most exciting point, Mrs. Elizabeth Davidson, 52 years old, arose from her seat, threw up her hands, uttered a shriek, and fell unconscious into the arms of her husband. Mr. Davidson carried his wife to a nearby doctor's office where she died. The Kansas City Globe is running an ad for fashionable bathing costumes, which are, quote, exceedingly handsome this season, and featuring silk and mohair, Japanese sleeves and skirts that are full over the hips.

Bobby

Yikes. I feel a little uncomfortable. Feels a little inappropriate.

Shannon

A little too sexy?

Bobby

A little too sexy, yeah.

Shannon

Mohair is one of those sexier fabrics.

Bobby

Yeah. Yikes.

Shannon

From the New York Tribune. U.S. guns fired on Dominicans. Gunboat Machayas at Puerto Plata intervenes between government and rebel forces. Bombardment of the rebel city of Puerto Plata was silenced late Friday by fire from the main battery of the gunboat Machayas. Only a few shots were required for the task. The Machayas was sent into the inner harbor prepared for battle after the Dominican forces had time and again violated an agreement not to use artillery in attacking the rebel forces holding the port. So, Bobby, what is going on here?

Bobby

I have no idea. It sounds like sounds like gunboat diplomacy to me.

Shannon

You're exactly right. Federal troops and rebel troops are fighting in a port city in the Dominican Republic. And a U.S. gunboat fires some shots to get them to stop. It's like a break it up, break it up.

Bobby

Right.

Shannon

Shot from an American gunboat. It's like when dad hears you wrestling.

Bobby

Yells at you to stop it.

Shannon

Yells at you to stop.

Bobby

Yeah.

Shannon

So the US in 1914, you're exactly right, Bobby, is in its gunboat diplomacy era, and it has gunboats parked in ports in the Dominican Republic, also in Mexico, Nicaragua, Cuba, Honduras, the Panama Canal Zone, Haiti.

Bobby

It's got the I'm in my gunboat diplomacy era t-shirt.

Shannon

In the early 1900s, the Dominican Republic owed money to European bondholders, and they could not pay. So Teddy Roosevelt, who was president at the time, did not want European powers coming to collect on those debts. The Monroe Doctrine wants European powers out of the Western Hemisphere. The Monroe Doctrine says Western Hemisphere this is for the United States. So a wealthy American bank, J.P. Morgan Co. takes over the debt, restructures it, and they're gonna pay the European bondholders. But in turn, the U.S. will then have the right to occupy ports in the Dominican Republic and collect customs duties. So the U.S. has been in charge of collecting taxes from all imports and exports for about 10 years in 1914. But US guns firing on Dominicans on June 29th, 1914. That was not the big story of the day, Bobby. The big story. The story that every US newspaper around the country would run carried pretty much the same headline. Heir to Austrian throne, assassinated. Francis Ferdinand, nephew of Emperor Francis Joseph, killed in Bosnian capital an hour after warding off bomb. Slayer a Serbian socialist. The twentieth century has just begun.

The assassination plot

Shannon

So here's some background on the assassination plot. The Bosnian Kingdom is conquered by the Ottomans in the 15th century. And the Bosnian Kingdom is under Ottoman rule until 1878. But the Ottoman Empire is in decline at the end of the 19th century.

Bobby

Right, the the sick man of Europe, I believe, is what it was known as.

Shannon

So Austria-Hungary begins to occupy Bosnia in 1878, and then they formally annex it in 1908. And this creates great anger and resentment in some of the South Slav population living in Bosnia, who feel that they should be united into one country and not under the rule of the Habsburg Empire. An occupying force creates anger and resentment in the occupied population. And there are always after effects. This is true then? This is true now. Serbia, who is Bosnia's neighbor, is also home to a Slavic population. And they are Austria-Hungary's foe in 1914. So when word gets around, the Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, will be visiting Sarajevo. An assassination plot begins to form. A secret Serbian nationalist organization called the Black Hand finances and provides bums. Bums?

Bobby

Bums, yeah.

Shannon

It provides bums, bombs, guns, and cyanide to a small group of Serbian and South Slav nationalists who will be set up along the parade route that the Archduke will be traveling down. So it's June 28, 1914. And the Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife are in a processional motorcade down the main thoroughfare in Sarajevo. Six assassins are lined up along the parade route that fateful day. The motorcade passes the first assassin. He does nothing. The motorcade passes the second assassin. He does nothing. The motorcade is now approaching the third assassin. And he throws a bomb. It bounces off the Archduke's car, lands in the street, and explodes. It injures some parade watchers and people in the Archduke's motorcade, including the Archduke's Ed de Camp, his aide de camp. The Archduke's car picks up the pace, speeds down the street. As much as a 1914 car can speed down the street. Passes the final three assassins who fail to act.

Bobby

Not a very talented, uh, not a very driven bunch, I guess.

Shannon

Well, they do ultimately accomplish the task.

Bobby

I'm not impressed with the group so far.

Shannon

The car is speeding towards City Hall, where a reception has been planned. And the mayor's waiting to greet the Archduke and his wife.

Christopher Plummer

Your highness. Mr. Mayor, we have come here to Sayewoo on a visit. And they throw bombs at us. Now you may go on with your speech.

Shannon

The Archduke and his wife, Sophie, they want to visit the people who have been injured by the bomb. Very kind.

Bobby

But also good PR, right?

Shannon

Well, it's good leadership. So they add a stop at the hospital before carrying on with the day's agenda. They're gonna go to a museum and then finally conclude their visit to Sarajevo with lunch at the governor's residence. So there this whole trip is almost over. Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie, they get back in the car. But their driver has not been told of the additional stop, the stop at the hospital. Because the man who would have told the driver of such a change, the Archduke's Ed de Caen, is one of the injured at the hospital. So the driver turns down Franz Joseph Street, a street named after the emperor. But this is a mistake. This is not the way to the hospital. So the driver begins to turn the car around. But standing there on the corner is one of the assassins. Gavrilo Princip. He had popped into a cafe to regroup, get a sandwich, figure out his next plan of action, and he's outside standing on the street corner when there in front of him is the Archduke's car. He seizes the moment, he fires one shot into Duchess Sophie's stomach, and then one shot into Franz Ferdinand's neck. They die shortly thereafter. And this moment, this event, would change everything.

How Franz Ferdinand became heir-apparent

Shannon

Franz Ferdinand, nephew to Emperor Franz Joseph, came to be heir apparent after many others dropped out of contention. The emperor's brother, Maximilian, was Emperor of Mexico for a few years. But his monarchy was overthrown by Mexican Republicans, and he was executed by firing squad in 1867. The emperor's only son, Rudolph, Rudolph, Rudolph, he died in 1889 at the age of 30. He and his 17-year-old mistress made a suicide act, and then they killed themselves in an imperial hunting lodge. Rudolf's mother, Franz Joseph's wife, Empress Elizabeth, wore black for the rest of her life after the death of her son. Until she was assassinated by an anarchist in 1898. So a lot of deaths surrounding this emperor.

Bobby

Yeah.

Shannon

But we're also in an age of political assassinations. A lot of assassinations in the late 19th, early 20th century. Leaders, politicians, royals all over the world.

Bobby

So people are used to these things happening in a way, right? They read about it a lot.

Shannon

They read about it a lot. Leaders are targets of nationalists and anarchists. You know, these are m movements that are gaining steam. People could read now. So they're pissed off at their leaders. If you were in your late 50s or older in America in 1914, you had lived through three presidential assassinations. Three Lincoln, Garfield, McKinley, and also an assassination attempt on Theodore Roosevelt. Three presidents assassinated in your lifetime. And one attempt. When this story hits the papers on June 29th, 1914, Americans reading this, yeah, they might not have been this might not have been terribly shocking. And they might have thought of this is sad, they have three young kids, but that's far away in Europe. They're always fighting. That doesn't have that doesn't have much to do with us. Americans do not get involved in European affairs. What's going on over there is not the business of the United States of America.

Bobby

Yeah, no, I think people wouldn't ever imagine in America that this is gonna have anything like the effect that it does.

Shannon

No, I don't think anybody in Europe also had any idea that it would have quite the effect that it had. President Woodrow Wilson hears the tragic news via telegram from his ambassador in Austria-Hungary. And the telegram says, Assassination today at Sarajevo, the capital province of Bosnia, of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir throne Austria-Hungary, and wife, Duchess Hohenberg, by pistol shots fired by student. Archduke and his wife were attending function and bomb thrown at them, killed and wounded bystanders. They went inquire condition of wounded and were shot while returning. President Wilson wastes no time in sending a condolence telegram to the Emperor. He writes, deeply shocked at the atrocious murder of his Imperial and Royal Highness Archduke Royal Family, to the government of Austria-Hungary, the sincere condolences of the government and people of the United States, and an expression of my own profound sympathy. Woodrow Wilson. It's hard to know what to write when these things happen. One story has this headline. And there had just been two wars in the Balkans in 1912 and 1913. So another one in 1914. Yeah, pretty probable. You know, there was frequently trouble in the Balkans. The New York Times writes about what some of the French papers are saying. Several journals express the fear that the consequences will be sufficiently serious again to plunge the Balkans, if not Europe, into a conflict. And those fears are realized, aren't they? Because in just one month's time, Europe will be at war. And although

US involvement begins immediately

Shannon

the United States won't officially join the Allies until April 1917, two and a half years after the fighting begins, American involvement begins immediately. Because as soon as the war begins, JP Morgan Co. is extending credit to the Allied powers so they can buy American-made guns, munitions, and artillery. 1914 is very important. Very important for the American century. And if you told an American in August 1914, when the Great War begins, that they were on the path of the war. But they wouldn't have thought of the war in Europe. Because Americans are not looking across the ocean at European powers as antagonists. They are looking south. At Mexico.

A burglary at an office in Washington

Shannon

Letters had been stolen from the files of a prominent Washington lawyer named Sherburne G. Hopkins. Letters allegedly confirming what many had been suspecting for years. That American businesses have been fomenting and financing the revolution in Mexico. The Mexican Revolution had been underway for a few years at this point. And the regime turnover in Mexico, the instability and the threat to American businesses has been just a real thorn in the side of the US. The Great War and the Mexican Revolution happen concurrently. We can hold two things in our brain at the same time. Two things can be true at the same time.

Bobby

Right.

Shannon

And those two things that are true is that the Great War and the Mexican Revolution happened at the same time. And both play a big role in United States history. And if we're going to talk about how the U.S. changes between 1914 and 1918, we must talk about Mexico. So in our next episode, Bobby, we're going to travel back a bit to April of 1914, two months before Franz Ferdinand is shot, and three months before the Great War begins. A series of incidents in Mexico have really been getting under President Wilson's craw. And he will ask Congress for approval to send troops into Mexico. Battleships are sent to the Gulf Coast and to the West Coast of Mexico. US Marines get ready to move in, and talk of war with Mexico is all over the papers. We'll also meet a very important and recurring character in this series. Maybe the most important character of the 20th century. Crude Oil.

Bobby

Okay, I was thinking of a person. Not a resource.

Shannon

All this and more. Next time on That American Century. Sources

Sources for today's episode

Shannon

for today's episode include The National Archives, The Papers of Woodrow Wilson, The Path to War: How the First World War Created Modern America by Michael S. Snaiberg. The House of Morgan by Ron Cherto. Woodrow Wilson and the World War by Charles Seymour. July 1914, Countdown to War by Sean McMeegan. And American Midnight by Adam Hokeshield. For a list of all sources, please see the show notes for this episode.