5. Rudolf’s Death Helped Spark World War I
Many of the royals of Europe, even those from different countries, were connected to each other either through blood or marriage. Queen Victoria of England was known as the grandmother of Europe because so many of her children married into royal families throughout the continent. Today, many historians point at the alliances created through royal marriages as a leading cause for World War I. Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria was assassinated in 1914 in Sarajevo, and his death triggered the complex web of alliances to fall into World War I, the bloodiest war that the world had yet seen.
Without the suicide of Prince Rudolf, however, the whole war might not have happened. If Emperor Franz Josef had abdicated the throne in favor of his son, the progressive Rudolf would likely have ended the alliance with Germany, which was at the center of the web of partnerships that plunged the world into war. However, Franz Ferdinand, Franz Josef’s nephew, became the heir apparent to the throne, and a disgruntled Bosnian nationalist named Gavrilo Princip shot and killed him in 1914. Germany’s alliance with the Austro-Hungarian Empire proved to be the undoing of an entire continent and led to the deaths of millions of people.