Geezah
06-22-2004, 09:13 AM
THE GUN that sparked World War I has been discovered — during a clean-up at a monastery.
The Browning automatic pistol was used to assassinate Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, and his wife Sophie in Sarajevo on June 28 1914.
Serb nationalist Gavrilo Princip pulled the trigger so Austria — who were itching for a fight with Serbia — used the killings as an excuse to declare war.
One by one every great power took sides until the whole planet was engulfed by a conflict that left over eight million dead by 1918.
The pistol that started it was handed over by police to priest Anton Puntigam, who administered the last rites to the Archduke.
When he died in the 1920s, his possessions were stored away by his Vienna-based Jesuit order and it was only discovered during a recent spring-clean and inventory.
Now it has been donated to a museum in Vienna. A spokesman said: “It is a great find.”
SUN (http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2004282554,00.html)
The Browning automatic pistol was used to assassinate Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, and his wife Sophie in Sarajevo on June 28 1914.
Serb nationalist Gavrilo Princip pulled the trigger so Austria — who were itching for a fight with Serbia — used the killings as an excuse to declare war.
One by one every great power took sides until the whole planet was engulfed by a conflict that left over eight million dead by 1918.
The pistol that started it was handed over by police to priest Anton Puntigam, who administered the last rites to the Archduke.
When he died in the 1920s, his possessions were stored away by his Vienna-based Jesuit order and it was only discovered during a recent spring-clean and inventory.
Now it has been donated to a museum in Vienna. A spokesman said: “It is a great find.”
SUN (http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2004282554,00.html)