A chance meeting avoided

As I understand it, Franz Ferdinand was one of the many murder victims who was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. The story I learned is that he drove by the bar where Gavrilo Princip and his Black Handers were hanging out commiserating the fact that the bomb they planted didn´t kill the Archduke. What if they had gone to another bar? Would there have been another damn fool thing in the Balkans or could we have avoided a great war ?
 
Actually, FF's car had taken a right turn - instead of going straight on. So, the driver stopped the car and laboured to bring it back on the planned route. That gave Princip opportunity to use his pistol.

FF was an enemy of making war with Serbia, his influence could have neutralised the 'war party'.

Nevertheless, in 1914 people all over Europe were waiting for war to errupt - and 'clear the air'. There soon would have come along another cause.
 
Still though, a war was still a possiblity between the two. If the assassination never took place, surely something else would have come up that wouldve served as a trigger point. Or perhaps Hungary wouldve simply attacked unprovoked.
 
Still though, a war was still a possiblity between the two. If the assassination never took place, surely something else would have come up that wouldve served as a trigger point. Or perhaps Hungary wouldve simply attacked unprovoked.

Hungary was for moderation, actually: the whole malarky about getting Germany to "back us to the hilt" was to calm Budapest down.

War is still rather likely. Serbia is one possible flashpoint. Another is Bulgaria (after Balkan War 2, a lot of IMRO people had fle dinto Bulgaria and were ahuge political influence on the country, leading it into the war. Germany may try and use this volatile situation to get the war its general staff wanted). Another is the Middle East, where the implementation of the "Armenian Reform Package" or "Packaged Anatolia to be delivered to the Russia Empire" will probably be resisted by Germany.
 
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