Is it true that World War 1 started when a bloke called Archie Duke shot an ostrich 'cause he was hungry?

That and,as captain Blackadder said,the concept that the 2 alliance blocks formed would act as a deterrent to war was b******s

Love your fractured question!

It was actually the Archduke Franz Ferdinand who, along with his morganatic wife, Sophie, were shot by Josif Prinzip, a Hungarian nationalist.

Prinzip wanted to take Hungary out of Austria and Austria out of Hungary (after all, the countries were essentially joined at the hip--officially the two nations shared the name of Austria-Hungary).

Unfortunately, this set in motion a cascade of events that ended in what has been variously called "The War to End War," "The Great War," and, of course, "World War I."

Oh, and here's a freebie--a "morganatic" wife was usually a commoner who married into royalty, but was not given royal rank. It was all perfectly legal and aboveboard; she just never would be recognized as queen, nor could the children of such a union inherit the throne.

Be more clear. Who was hungry, Archie or the ostrich?

archduke ferdinand was assassinated. various alliance treaties came into play and ww1 started; causing dupont's profits to go from an average of about $6 million/year to an average of about &60 million a year during the four year long war. wonder who paid the assassin?

The instant reason became the assassination in Sarajevo of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary via Gavrilo Princip, a Serbian nationalist. inspite of the incontrovertible fact that the assassination is likewise extensively agreed to have been in basic terms the overt reason, the place assorted hidden and implicit factors have been contributing —significant of those being the drives and hobbies of assorted competing nationalist components.

Yes, but it wasn't just any ostrich. It was an ostrich that had trained itself to be a ninja ostrich!

Endless repeats of Blackadder Goes Forth and everybody is a comedian.

the archie duke didn't shoot an ostrich. he threw a pen at it and when the ostrich cough them he fu*ked up both of them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXNF60HX8iw

Excellent - It's nice to see education improving in the Bible Belt.

RScott

Pretty sure it was Archie Bunker who did that.