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COMMENTARY: HISTORY FROM ANCIENT TO MODERN

The author Matthew White chose Gavrilo Princip as the most important person of the Twentieth century because, said White: "Here's a man who single-handedly sets off a chain reaction which ultimately leads to the deaths of 80 million people."

The chain reaction White is referring to is not a chemical chain reaction. It is instead a lot of people muddling through choice -- historical context of which Princip was but a tiny part. Princip himself was responding historical context, something bigger than himself: empire. Without the old Habsburg emperor of Austria-Hungary, Franz Joseph, Princip would be an unknown. Franz Joseph wanting to maintain his family's empire was the significant catalyst. Maybe White should have named Franz Joseph the most important man of the twentieth century.

King William II of Germany was another important link without whom there might no have been a war. He assumed that his cousin, Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, would allow Austria-Hungary to punish the Serbs for regicide and followed by giving Franz Joseph his support for an attack on Serbia.

Ignoring the bigger picture distorts one's understanding, as with White giving too much responsibility to Princip for the war.