The Abdication of Franz Ferdinand

Author says: what if Franz Ferdinand survived Sarajevo and launched a programme of transformation muses Scott Palter?. Please note that the opinions expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of the author(s).

February 3rd, 1923: on this day in alternate history the Austrian Emperor Franz Ferdinand abdicated.

His attempt to bridge the divisions between the ruling Germans in Austria and the various Slavs and other nationalities resulted in first constitutional gridlock from 1917 onwards [Hungarian secession took place at the same time, followed by a nasty war of devolution as Croatia broke free with help from Austro-German Frei Korps under the patronage of the Papacy; this caused Franz Ferdinard to lose the title King of Hungary but keep that of Duke of Croatia] and finally reached civil war in the Kingdom of Bohemia over competing claims of Sudeten Germans and Czechs.

Faced with civil war between competing ethnic militias in every major city of the realm the army intervened to restore order under the banner of his brother Charles.

Franz Fredinand left for exile in Portugal leaving Charles to sort out the mess. Charles was negotiating with the Polish and Czech national committees but war with Italy threatened over Istria. In his last speech Franz Ferdinand morbidly commented that history would have thought better of him had the botched 1914 assassination attempt in Bosnia killed him.

Imagine what would be, if history had occurred a bit differently. Who says it didn't, somewhere? These fictional news items explore that possibility. Possibilities such as America becoming a Marxist superpower, aliens influencing human history in the 18th century and Teddy Roosevelt winning his 3rd term as president abound in this interesting fictional blog.