I have never bought the assertion that Princip was the cause.

Submitted by yonason (United States), Jun 29, 2014 at 09:53

My grandfather was a stagecoach driver in Poland prior to WWI. Some of those who rode in it were Russian officers. They used to tease him about who he would fight for when (not if) war came, telling him if he thought he would fight for Poland he was mistaken, and that if he didn't want to fight for Russia, he should go to America. Thankfully, he listened and came to America.

I am convinced (by evidence no longer available on the web) that the Kaiser had WWI all planned out, or so he thought, prior to the war, and a lot of people knew it. While Princip may have been the spark that prematurely set off the powder keg, it would have gone off in any case, and with perhaps even more devastating consequences had this event not unexpectedly forced the issue before all preparations were complete.

Sorry all I can offer is a personal anecdote, and an assertion which I can't publicly back up. But I'm sure I'm not the only one for whom the story of some loser being totally responsible for WWI doesn't hold up.

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