Text/Feng Xuanyi
The events in Sarajevo were the trigger for the First World War. The course of this incident is not complicated. On Sunday, June 28, 1914, Archduke Ferdinand, Crown Prince of Austria-Hungary, took his wife Sophia to Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia, for a special visit. As the Grand Duke's car was moving down the street, a young man named Gabriel principe fired 7 shots at the Grand Duke with an M1910 pistol, killing both Grand Duke Ferdinand and his wife. This assassination sparked a war between the great powers, and the First World War broke out.
In fact, on the 28th, Archduke Ferdinand and his wife suffered two assassinations. Before Princip opened fire, they were also assassinated with a bomb. However, this assassination was not successful, and the Ferdinands escaped the disaster. However, this assassination brought out a deadly poison. In the history since then, this poison has frequently appeared on the "stage", making people feel frightened and becoming a veritable "poison king".
On 28 June, the first assassination of Archduke Ferdinand and his wife was a young Serbian named Gablinovic. At that time, according to the scheduled itinerary, Archduke Ferdinand and his wife drove to the city hall. As the car pulled to the Appel pier, Gablinovich suddenly burst out of the crowd and threw a bomb at the car in which the Ferdinands were riding. But instead of being dropped into the car, the bomb landed on the canopy, which bounced to the ground and exploded in front of the third car of the convoy. The Ferdinands were not injured, but fragments of the bomb wounded General Portiocre's deputy and Sophia's maid.
Seeing that the assassination mission had failed, Gablinovich quickly took out a small bottle from his body and quickly swallowed the contents. Apparently, he was committing suicide by taking poison. However, he did not die of poisoning. The police immediately arrived, and he saw that the situation was not good, and he was ready to jump into the river to commit suicide. But it was too late, and he was caught by the police.
When Ferdinand saw the captured Gablinovich, he said to the onlookers: "Gentlemen, this man is crazy, let's go as planned." So the convoy moved on, and the injured were taken to hospital. After attending a scheduled event at Town Hall, the Ferdinands traveled to the hospital to visit the injured retinue. Just on the way to the hospital, a second assassination occurred. This time, the Grand Duke and his wife were killed on the spot.
What did Gablinovich swallow after the assassination failed? It is the famous cyanide.
Cyanide is a highly toxic chemical poison. This poison is characterized by high toxicity, high lethality and convenient concealment. After taking this poison, the poisoned person will have symptoms such as "convulsions and coma", and after the onset of toxicity, the most recent five minutes will die. It can be seen that this is a very ideal poison.
Before the emergence of cyanide, arsenic was the "darling" of the poison industry, but arsenic toxicity was slow, and it usually took 1 hour to attack after taking it, and it would die after several hours, and some even had to struggle for several days before dying. This leaves plenty of time for rescue. So. When the more lethal cyanide appeared, it quickly replaced the position of arsenic and became the real "poison king".
However, cyanide also has drawbacks. The ideal poison is "colorless, tasteless, and invisible." But cyanide does not meet this requirement. The two poisons in cyanide, potassium cyanide and sodium cyanide, are colorless crystals in the crystalline state, but in a humid environment, they will hydrolyze and emit a taste similar to bitter almonds, which is easily recognizable. After the poisoning, the pinna and earlobes of the poisoned person will show a cherry red color, and the face and lips will show cyanosis, which will be known as cyanide poison at a glance. Given these drawbacks, cyanide is often used as suicide. Because it can kill quickly, neither leaving time for the enemy nor allowing itself to suffer too much.
The first time cyanide appeared on the stage of history, it was used by Gablinovich as a suicide poison for failed operations. But why didn't he die of poison? It turned out that the cyanide prepared by the planner of the assassination was bought from a trader, which was an inferior product and was not qualified. Because it is a poison, no one dares to try it before using it, so it leads to "dropping the chain" at a critical moment.
With the development of science, cyanide poisons are constantly being improved. In the cyanide family, potassium cyanide, sodium cyanide, and hydrocyanic acid are three truly toxic chemicals. These cyanides only need to take 50mg to cause sudden death, which shows its toxicity. In the historical stage since then, cyanide poison has appeared many times, but the "chain off" thing like the one in the Sarajevo incident has rarely happened again, and the laurel of the "King of Poison" can be said to be well deserved.