Saturday, June 28, 2014

Thames (NZ): Remembering WWI - news 29 June 1914

The commemorations for WWI will be covered over the months to come. Today plays an important part in the lead-up to World War One. One years ago Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife were assassinated.

On 28 June 1914 Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the throne of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and his wife Sophie were assassinated in the Bosnian city of Sarajevo. The fallout from this faraway event would ultimately claim the lives of 18,500 New Zealanders and wound more than 40,000. Places thousands of miles from home with exotic-sounding names such as Gallipoli, Passchendaele and the Somme were forever etched in the national memory during what became known as the Great War. Source: http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/war/first-world-war-overview/introduction

The Thames Star Newspaper reported the event on 29 June 1914.