English subtitles for clip: File:1934-10-17 King Alexander Assassination.ogv

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You're about to see the most amazing pictures ever made,

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the assassination of King Alexander of Yugoslavia.

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The ill-fated ruler arriving at Marseille aboard the Yugoslavian cruiser Dubrovnik

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is visiting France on a mission of extreme importance.

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The final move in critical negotiations, he hopes, will cement the goodwill relationships

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of Yugoslavia, Italy and France,

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and banish the specter of war from the Adriatic and mid Europe.

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As he hastens ashore, where thousands are waiting to greet him and welcome him to France,

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the Balkan ruler is in a happy mood.

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He is on the eve of his greatest triumph,

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international amity for his country in the family of nations.

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And what a welcome he gets as he sets foot on French soil,

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on the Quai des Belges in the ancient French port.

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He's to be escorted in regal fashion through the city to the railroad station,

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accompanied by the aged French Foreign Minister, Louis Barthou,

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mastermind of Europe's tangled diplomacy.

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To Barthou, too, the morrow in Paris promises a fruition of his greatest work for France,

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the building of a Latin-Slavic bulwark across southern Europe against Germany and Hitlerism.

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And so, the Balkan monarch and the revered French statesman begin their fateful ride, the ride of death,

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little dreaming of a terrible catastrophe that awaits them a block or so away.

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Police line the street, and a mounted escort rides ahead, but no trouble is expected.

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It's again a day in Marseille.

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Vive Alexander! Vive le roi!

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Oh, they've been shot!

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Oh, the King is dying and Barthou's fatally wounded.

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The crowd is infuriated. The police can't hold them.

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It's an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. Pandemonium has broken loose.

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The mob is out to beat the man to death. They'll do it, too.

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He's a Croatian conspirator, one of the King's own subjects,

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chosen by luck to do this foul deed.

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He tried to kill himself after firing a fusillade into the King's car,

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but the police and the crowd were too quick for him.

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The fury of the crowd is not to be denied.

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Meanwhile, the King has breathed his last,

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victim of a tragedy that's rocking the very foundations of Europe.