One German historian has confessed that during the Second World War he forged documents to prove Serb complicity, and yet this has not damaged his reputation for scholarly integrity. Nearly all the writers had an axe to grind of one sort or another and, since most historians are men of conservative mind, respectful of authority, they have usually taken the Austrian side. Yet despite all this stir there has been singularly little study of a detached historical nature. Even American anarchists, who had clearly nothing to do with it, tried to claim the credit. Almost everyone has been accused of complicity: the Serbian government of course most of all, but also the Russian government, the Bolsheviks, the British Intelligence Service, the Hungarian government, and the German government. Dedijer says that over three thousand books and pamphlets were written on the subject up to 1939, and fresh ones are still appearing. He also touched off a historical controversy which rumbles to the present day. Princip fired the first shot in a world war. When the Bosnian student Gavrilo Princip killed Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Habsburg throne, at Sarajevo on 28 June 1914, he committed an assassination unrivaled in its consequences, both political and literary. Where much is doubtful, one fact is certain. American citizens hardly need to be reminded at the moment that it is hard to discover the full truth about a political assassination, even with the resources of modern publicity. Most assassins have been lone operators, but sometimes they have been agents in a wide conspiracy, and often men have suspected a conspiracy where none existed. Some-one is tempted to say, the most justified-have been tyrannicide, the traditional weapon of the helpless against their oppressors. Some have sought to demonstrate a general principle, such as anarchism. Many were senseless-the work of a madman or of someone with a private grievance. Professor Dedijer lists ninety major ones between 17. Political assassinations have been common throughout history.
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