Sarajevo

The documentary "Sarajevo - The Road to Catastrophe" not only looks at the circumstances of the attack, but also focuses on the catastrophic consequences of the assassination, which triggered a crisis that led to the First World War.
The possibility of a trial of strength in Europe at some point was in the air.
The sabre-rattling of the superpowers was a tradition.
War was still seen as the ultimate means of politics.
Since the turn of the century, the arms race had been accelerating - but escalation was by no means inevitable.
The powers wanted to be prepared for the conflict, but did not want to appear as the aggressor.
The governments in Berlin, St. Petersburg, Vienna, Paris and London agreed on this.
Even the shots fired in Sarajevo initially did nothing to change this.
But the tide turned within a few weeks.
In retrospect, the July Crisis of 1914 seems like a disastrous chain reaction.
The powers recognized the danger, but they did not prevent the escalation.
Pledges of alliance were reaffirmed, mobilization followed mobilization.
All future warring parties eventually declared themselves to be the attacked.
None saw themselves as the aggressor.
Crowds in the capitals euphorically greeted the outbreak of war, of which no one had any idea how murderous it would really become - and that it would mean the end of the old Europe.
The fighting began with the attack of the German armies in the west.
In recent decades, the theory that the Wilhelminian Empire was primarily responsible for the outbreak of the First World War has been little disputed.
However, more recent research puts this view into perspective.
Christopher Clark's "Sleepwalkers" heats up the debate as to whether all the powers involved staggered into the catastrophe together, completely ignoring the risks.
The documentary recapitulates the few weeks between the fatal shots and the first salvos of the war.
How could a single assassination attempt ignite a global conflagration?
Was the chain reaction in July 1914 unstoppable?
Who fueled the escalation, who could have prevented the "primal catastrophe of the 20th century"?
The documentary is accompanied by the website aufbruchindiekrise.
First broadcast: Monday, April 28, 2014, 21:55 on ZDF.