ABSTRACT
Visiting the military history museum in Vienna some time ago, the author came across the pistol from which on that fatal morning in Sarajevo in 1914, the shots were fired which led to the outbreak of the First World War. The Sarajevo terrorist attack created a stir all over Europe but it was the summer season, politicians and diplomats were on their holiday, reluctant to be disturbed. The quiet and happy years after 1914 are now remembered above all because of the economic prosperity and, of course, the great success of the Berlin Olympic games. The Pan-Europa project leading to a federal European Union was of course rejected by militant nationalists in many European countries. Events in Russia during the first half of the twentieth century were anything but peaceful; later on the violent storms subsided, there were calm seas, and a feeling of having anchored in a secure haven.
