Synopsis
In the summer of 1914, as overburdened diplomats anxiously bustled between the capital cities of Europe, the Serbian government asked the world how it was that they could be held responsible for the actions of “those demented children” of Austrian territory. Those “children” were a group of Bosnian activists called the Young Bosnians, belonging to a former Ottoman colony that had recently been annexed by Austria-Hungary, and who one sunny June day assassinated Franz Ferdinand, the Heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, so providing the pretext for the First World War and the resultant carnage. This is the story of those “children”, their influences and the times in which they lived. Although much of the narrative is drawn from documented historical events and most of the characters retain their original names and actions, their words and motives have, in many cases, been contrived in order to drive a hypothesis that is neither original nor completely implausible. In fact, conspiracy theories have forever shadowed the events here represented.