Caillaux.

This is coolbert:

Here with a new one on me. NEVER heard of before. Perhaps devoted readers to the blog have not either.

Thanks to the Lew Rockwell Internet web site and the article by Bionic Mosquito

"Prelude to the Great War: France"

"It is well known, the bullet that killed crown prince Franz Ferdinand of Austria.  There is a second, equally important bullet that drove – or in this case, kept clear – Europe’s drive toward suicidal war."

"The bullet was fired by Henriette Caillaux, killing Gaston Calmette, the editor of Le Figaro.  She [Henriette] believed he [Calmette] was about to expose secrets about her marriage.  Apparently her [Henriette] husband was a man about town…and these secrets might have been equally embarrassing to her."

"man about town - - noun 1. a socially active, sophisticated man who frequents fashionable nightclubs, theaters, restaurants, etc.; playboy; boulevardier."

"Except for the bark of her Browning, Henriette’s husband Joseph Caillaux would have been France’s premier in July 1914."

"Caillaux was known for easing tensions in Europe, and certainly with Germany.  He was known for not favoring France’s military alliance with Russia.  He was not from Alsace-Lorraine, and therefore did not feel the same pull toward restoring these lands, lost to Germany some forty years earlier."

THE INFERENCE IS QUITE CLEAR. CAILLAUX AS FRENCH PREMIER ABLE TO NEGOTIATE DURING A CRISIS AND THE GREAT WAR AVERTED. AS SIMPLE AS THAT. IF NOT FOR MADAME CAILLAUX.

It all sounds so easy. We however know  the rest of the story!!

coolbert.