Österreich - Die ganze Geschichte S02E18 - Scheuende Pferde

When the assassin Bogdan Zerajić fired at the Habsburg governor in Bosnia in 1910, he could have sparked the global conflagration that erupted four years later with the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo. But Zerajić missed his target and turned the gun on himself. Meanwhile, unrest simmered across other regions of the multi-ethnic Austro-Hungarian Empire, particularly among the Czechs, who were awakening to their national identity.

Through dramatic re-enactments from these hotspots, this episode chronicles the tumultuous decades when ethnic fault lines within the Habsburg state became increasingly pronounced. The Ottoman Empire's retreat from the Balkans primarily benefited Russia, which shifted from being Austria's long-standing ally to its fierce strategic adversary—largely due to missteps in Habsburg Balkan policy. This pivotal shift set the stage for World War I. The national states we know today are direct outcomes of these historical developments.