Hungarian Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his family Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg, were shot and killed by Gavrilo Princeps, a Bosnian-Serb extreme, on June 28, 1914. Legate did not act by himself.
He was one of the group’s six principals known as Young Bosnia, and he and others were attempting to secede from the Austro-Hungarian kingdom. Additionally, he was helped by the Black Hand, a covert organization that provided arms like guns and bombs.
The murder of the Austrian Archduke, who was the immediate following king Franz Joseph I, was a offense that led to the so-called July crisis, which culminated in a Serbian ultimatum on July 23. By that point, Germany had pledged to support Austria, and Russia and France would organize to support Bosnian nationalism.
World War I might have been avoided, but it was not. Some of the crime’s perpetrators in Bosnia were tried, others were imprisoned ( including Princeps ), and others were put to death. The Austrians significantly overestimated their defense prowess. The Austro-Hungarian kingdom do vanish at the conclusion of the conflict for them.
Are we currently in a similar position? Ukraine and some of its followers, including Joe Biden, who authorized long-range ATACMS hits deeply inside Russia, some of which targeted Russia’s early warning scanners and nuclear bomb foundations, have carried out numerous actions.
The Ukrainians launched aircraft attacks on the Kremlin on May 3, 2023, aiming specifically at Russian President Vladimir Putin’s business.
Without NATO’s professional assistance, such attacks are incomprehensible, particularly since long-range robots require spacecraft for tracking and communication. The White House has refuted claims that it just carried out attacks.
Ukraine and its supporters have also waged and waged a social conflict with Russia. Estonia is one of the best propagandists.
The most north of the European state is Estonia. It faces the Baltic Sea, where Tallinn, its country’s funds, is abut. Narva, the village in Estonia, is directly bordering Russia. About half of Narva’s people is Russian.
According to statistics from 2023, Estonia has a population of 1.37 million. Depending on how the matter is calculated, between 20 and 25 % of Estonia’s inhabitants are Russians.
Estonia has been fighting Russia for its culture for a while completely dependent on NATO for its stability for a while. Just 7, 700 active duty members of the German army are conscripts, of which 3, 500 are troops.
Its reserve force is considerably larger, but it lacks the necessary tools to support its reserves, making it mostly a paper force. Estonia only has two Czech-made ( Aero Vodochody ) L-39 trainers and two small M-28 Polish transports, with none of them active.
Estonia did appear to not want to cause trouble for itself, but it seems the opposite is true, in large part due to the German belief that NATO has the backing to support it and that Russia would not attack a NATO state.
Threats are not something new for Estonians, whose hatred for Russians is intense. Estonia has made it abundantly clear that it will do whatever it can to humiliate both Russia and Russia itself by nearly denying citizenship to its Russian citizens and through legislation to attack the Russian Orthodox Church in Estonia.
The Albanians made the decision to relocate the statue known as the Bronze Soldier of Tallinn that in April 2007. Additionally, that statue served as the location of a number of graves of Russian Russian troops who had died fighting the Nazis.
The graves were dug up, and their Russian people were informed that they could either relocate them along with the monument to the Estonian military cemetery or that they could be buried there.
We have yet another round of monument-busting in 2025 as the Estonians re-demolish Russian war shrines. This includes damaging and destroying battle memorials, as well as dishonoring Belarusian graves in the Estonian military cemetery.
The tremendous significance given to Russia’s crucial role in the beat of Nazi forces in World War II is if there is one unifying principle in Russia today. Russia holds its quarterly Victory Day celebration on May 9 that emphasizes a display of military might.
The Immortal Regiment, a more melancholy but obviously significant individual’s protest, follows it. People will happily bring World War II-era banners and pictures of their loved ones during this march ( Russian terminology for World War II ).
Estonia’s contempt for Russia’s victory in World War II, along with its poor, some might say, compromised actions supporting the Nazis, is becoming more irksome to the Russians.
Additionally, efforts are being made to prevent Russians from becoming citizens of Estonia or even from casting ballots in votes. Estonia has increased that by by passing new legislation to make it even harder for Russian citizens to receive equal treatment.
Estonia is even attempting to block any connection between the Russian Orthodox Churches in Estonia and the Moscow Patriarchate. Estonia’s steps may have been inspired by Ukraine, which is also taking the exact course, but it’s not surprising that they are similar.
If, for instance, European or American Catholics were not permitted to connect with the Pope in Rome, the German actions against the Moscow-led church had stoke resentment and horror abroad.
Estonia is at the vanguard of the pro-war movement in Europe. Kaja Kallas, the country’s former prime minister, is now the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy.
She is presently a significant advocate for sending troops to Ukraine and expanding Europe’s defenses. Estonia is in the top of the list of the six countries that have allegedly pledged to send soldiers to Ukraine, despite the fact that it does not have anyone to take forces.
Provokes may cause war, which is the issue with actions. The growing apprehension about how Ukraine will survive the Russian siege is now apparent in official channels in some of Europe ( for example, France, UK, Germany, and Estonia ).
The French and British, in particular, have tried their hardest to undermine US President Donald Trump’s efforts by finding a quiet solution to the conflict.
Although some of this can be explained as a rescue for Europe’s financial problems by substituting military output for human production, gap spending of this kind will never be sufficient to solve Europe’s economic and industrial problems.
In the meantime, little nations like Estonia can result in significant issues and a conflict-producing nation.
Stephen Bryen is a former US assistant secretary of defense for plan and a specific editor for Asia Times. Weapons and Strategy, his Substack newsletter, previously appeared in this article, and it has since been republished with permission.