Archduke Franz Ferdinand and the Era of Assassination

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1914
A01=Lisa Traynor
Age Group_Uncategorized
Age Group_Uncategorized
Archduke Franz Ferdinand
assassination
Author_Lisa Traynor
automatic-update
Casimir Zeglen
Category1=Non-Fiction
Category=HBWN
Category=JWLF
Category=JWT
Category=NHWR5
COP=United Kingdom
Delivery_Delivery within 10-20 working days
eq_bestseller
eq_history
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
firearms
First World War
Gavrilo Princip
Language_English
PA=Available
pistols
Price_€10 to €20
PS=Active
softlaunch
twentieth century

Product details

  • ISBN 9780948092886
  • Dimensions: 168 x 240mm
  • Publication Date: 01 Nov 2018
  • Publisher: Trustees of the Royal Armouries
  • Publication City/Country: GB
  • Product Form: Paperback
  • Language: English
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Could the event that triggered the ‘war to end all wars’ have been prevented?

The shot that killed Archduke Franz Ferdinand and directly led to the outbreak of the First World War is known as the ‘shot heard around the world’. Far less widely known is the fact that the Archduke owned, but on that fateful day did not wear, a bulletproof vest manufactured by Polish priest-turned-inventor Casimir Zeglen.

Using a reconstructed bulletproof vest and a Royal Armouries Browning Model 1910 pistol identical to that used by the Archduke’s assassin, Lisa Traynor highlights the risks associated with power and status in the early 20th century. Assessing the design and composition of Zeglen’s armours, she charts the technological development of pistols used during this period’s assassination plots. Testing her findings on a replica of the Archduke’s bulletproof vest, Traynor poses the haunting question: had Franz Ferdinand been wearing body armour on the day of his assassination, would it have saved his life?

Featured in the BBC TV series Sword, Musket and Machine Gun: Britain’s Armed History, this fascinating book breaks new ground in our understanding of the outbreak of the First World War.
Lisa Traynor is Curator of Firearms at the Royal Armouries Museum. She has co-curated exhibitions on `Waterloo the Art of Battle' (to mark the 200th anniversary in 2015, in conjunction with the Royal Academy of Arts) and `Bullets, Blades and Battle Bowlers' (exploring the rise of weapons technology during the First World War).

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