WRFH/Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM - History Off Script: The Second United States That Almost Was

Episode Date: October 26, 2025

What if you had to clarify which United States you were from? This episode dives into the interesting and tragic tale of Archduke Franz Ferdinand II and his radical vision for the future of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

That's how history can often feel. Mechanical. One event after the other. But what's in the fine print? What happens if we peel back the layers? What kind of hidden dramas may unfold? It's time we went beyond the textbook. This is history off script.

Here's your host, James Jock. Imagine traveling abroad and somebody asks you where you're from. You say, I'm from the United States. And they look at you, puzzled, and say, yes, but which United States? The idea may sound preposterous,

but over a century ago, it was a distinct possibility, and it all started with just one man, Archduke Franz Ferdinand II. Born December 18, 1863, Ferdinand was the crown prince of Austria-Hungary, a once great empire in Central Europe. If his name sounds familiar,

that is because his assistant, assassination in 1914 was largely responsible for the outbreak of World War I, a conflict that claimed over 17 million lives and saw the complete dissolution of Ferdinand's empire into several new nations. But it didn't have to be this way. In a cruel twist to fate, the man with the greatest potential to stop war was the one whose death started it. To understand why this is, we have to first understand the nation that Ferdinand came from. Austria-Hungary, by 1914, covered some 260,000 square miles, a land area approximately the size of modern-day Texas.

However, in that area, were 11 major ethnic groups and just as many languages. Imagine driving across Texas and having to speak a new language every three hours. That was Austria-Hungary. Ferdinand recognized the problem that such multiculturalism could cause in an age of rising nationalism. His solution was clear, greater autonomy for the many cultures of the empire. How? Statehood. Thus the idea of the United States of Greater Austria was born.

Ferdinand's vision was radical. The empire would be divided into distinct ethnic states, each on equal footing with the other. Fernand understood the dangers that oppression and maltreatment could pose the empire's stability. He was especially conscious of the unrest growing among the empire's Serbian population and desired a more careful, intolerant approach. He cautioned that excessive oppression would ultimately bring Austria-Hungary into conflict with the nation of Serbia and their ally, the Russian Empire. Though his peers would scoff at him for his views, Ferdinand's premonition would prove fatally accurate. On June 28th, 1914, Ferdinand and his wife were gunned down by a Serbian separatists in Sarajevo, Bosnia.

Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia. Russia declared war on Austria-Hungary. Germany declared war on Russia. Thus, the dominoes fell. The battle lines were drawn, and the rest is history. With France, Ferdinand died the United States of Greater Austria, and with it any hope at saving the nation of Austria-Hungary. We can only speculate what the world would be like if he had lived. What his nation would have looked like, how its institutions and culture would have developed. All that survives is the cruel irony of a man slain by the very people he was trying to help.