What Difference Can One Man Make?

Tomorrow is the 100th anniversary of the assassination of Franz Ferdinand, archduke of the Austria-Hungarian Empire, and his wife. Sure, there was a genuine conspiracy to kill him, but in the end it came down to one man, Gavrilo Princip.

When he shot Archduke Ferdinand, it set into motion the deaths of untold millions. World War I was just the beginning of it. Trench warfare, chemical weapons, tanks, machine guns, all created to fight a war which need never have happened. Men were mowed down by the numbers trying to fight an old-style war with modern weapons. Empires fell, revolutions changed countries, borders were altered. When it was all over everybody said it was the war to end all wars and set to ensuring it would never happen again. To that end they wrote the Treaty of Versailles, putting the screws to Germany. Had they but known what they were doing they would have done anything else.

Thanks to that treaty, Germans spent the next 15 years simmering in resentment, culminating with the rise of a former Austrian corporal who was always mindful of what came to be known as the stab-in-the-back legend, the idea that Germany didn't lose, their politicians simply quit. Yes, World War I was instrumental in the coming of Adolf Hitler. Perhaps you've heard of him.

So now we have World War II and more untold millions killed, finally ridding ourselves of the future potential for disaster by totally destroying Europe and dividing Germany for the next 45 years. Except that we didn't rid ourselves of anything, because World War I was also instrumental in the ascension of the Bolsheviks and the formation of the Soviet Union. They also killed millions, as did we through the proxy wars of Korea and Vietnam, along with several other skirmishes through proxy states and the like.

So, what can one man do? Gavrilo Princip might not have been the person that created the political environment that ultimately precipitated vast death and destruction lasting to the present day, but he was the catalyst for it. Don't ever underestimate your potential. You too can change the world. Only in your case, try not to kill the wrong guy.