The "shot heard round the world" is a phrase that refers to the opening shot of the battles of Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775, which sparked the American Revolutionary War and led to the creation of the United States. It originates from the opening stanza of Ralph Waldo Emerson's 1837 poem "Concord Hymn". The phrase has subsequently been applied to the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in 1914, a catalyst event for World War I, and hyperbolically applied to feats in sports.
By the rude bridge that arched the flood,
Their flag to April’s breeze unfurled,
Here once the embattled farmers stood,
And fired the shot heard round the world.
− Emerson, "Concord Hymn"
Emerson's "Concord Hymn", which originated the phrase, was written about the skirmish at the Old North Bridge, which was an early engagement on that day. Emerson lived in a house known as the Old Manse at the time when he was composing the poem, from which his grandfather and father (then a young child) had witnessed the skirmish. The house is located approximately 300 feet (91 m) from the Old North Bridge. [1]
There is no consensus whether the shots fired at the North Bridge were truly the first shots of the American Revolution; it is an unprovable matter of opinion and of contention, particularly between the towns of Concord and Lexington, Massachusetts. [ citation needed ] There had been an earlier encounter at the Lexington Battle Green, when a column of British troops encountered a group of minutemen led by Captain John Parker. Neither side had orders to open fire, but the British soldiers fired a spontaneous ragged volley anyway and then made a bayonet charge (whether the first shot was fired by a British soldier or an American sniper is unknown). [2] Eight Americans were killed, the Americans quit the field, and the British continued their march toward Concord. One British soldier suffered a flesh wound from a shot from an unknown source. [3] [4]
Regardless of the facts of the matter, Emerson chose, in his poem, to characterize the later engagement at the North Bridge as the opening act of the Revolution. The North Bridge fight did see the first deliberate volley by Americans acting under orders, the first British deaths, and the first British retreat. A plaque on The Minute Man statue reads in part "On the 19 of April 1775 was made the first forcible resistance to British aggression..." [5]
The towns of Lexington and Concord have debated over the point where the first shot was fired since at least 1824, when Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette visited the two towns during his visit to the United States. He was welcomed to Lexington by the municipal authorities, who described it as the "birthplace of American liberty"; the Marquis de Lafayette was subsequently informed in Concord that the "first forcible resistance" was made there.[ citation needed ] President Ulysses S. Grant considered not attending the 1875 centennial celebrations in the area to evade the issue.[ citation needed ] In 1894, Lexington petitioned the Massachusetts General Court to proclaim April 19 as "Lexington Day", to which Concord objected; the current name for the holiday is Patriots' Day. [6]
Internationally, the phrase "shot heard round the world", alternatively written as "shots heard round the world" or "shot heard around the world", has become primarily associated with the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914. [7] [8] The event is considered to be one of the immediate causes of World War I. [9] [10] [11] [12] Serbian Gavrilo Princip fired two shots, the first hitting Franz Ferdinand's wife Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg, and the second hitting the Archduke himself. The death of Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, propelled Austria-Hungary and the rest of Europe into World War I.
The phrase "Shot heard round the world" continues to be a stock phrase in the 21st century, widely used to refer to extraordinary events in general. [13] The phrase has been applied to several dramatic moments in sports history.
In baseball, the "Shot Heard 'Round the World" refers to the game-winning walk-off home run by New York Giants outfielder Bobby Thomson off Brooklyn Dodgers pitcher Ralph Branca to win the National League pennant on October 3, 1951. The Giants won the game 5–4 as a result of the home run, defeating their traditional rivals in the pennant playoff series, although they eventually lost the World Series to the Yankees. [14]
In association football, the shot heard round the world refers to Paul Caligiuri's winning goal for the United States men's national soccer team in the final qualifying round for the 1990 FIFA World Cup on 19 November 1989. [15] [16] The US had not qualified for the World Cup since 1950. The team was in third position of the CONCACAF playoffs before their final game against Trinidad and Tobago in Port of Spain. The US had to win to go to the finals, their opponents only needed a draw. Defensive midfielder Caligiuri received the ball 40 yards out from goal, and instead of passing it to a striker, beat one defender and launched a 30-yard shot that looped into the goal. [15]
In golf, the shot heard round the world refers to an albatross (or double eagle) made by Gene Sarazen on the 15th hole in the final round of the 1935 Masters. Sarazen would go on to win the tournament in a 36-hole playoff. [17]
Gavrilo Princip was a Bosnian Serb student who assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir presumptive to the throne of Austria-Hungary, and his wife Sophie, Duchess von Hohenberg, in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914. The killing of the Archduke and his wife set off the July Crisis, a chain of events that within one month led to the outbreak of World War I.
Concord is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, in the United States. In the 2020 census, the town population was 18,491. The United States Census Bureau considers Concord part of Greater Boston. The town center is near where the confluence of the Sudbury and Assabet rivers forms the Concord River.
Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg was the wife of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne. Their assassination in Sarajevo sparked a series of events that led, four weeks later, to World War I.
"Concord Hymn" is a poem by Ralph Waldo Emerson written for the 1837 dedication of an obelisk monument in Concord, Massachusetts, commemorating the battles of Lexington and Concord, a series of battles and skirmishes on April 19, 1775 which sparked the American Revolutionary War.
The Bedford Flag is the oldest known flag in the United States. It is associated with the Minutemen of Bedford, Massachusetts, and the Battles of Lexington and Concord of 1775.
The North Bridge, often colloquially called the Old North Bridge, is a historic site in Concord, Massachusetts, spanning the Concord River. On April 19, 1775, the first day of the American Revolutionary War, provincial minutemen and militia companies numbering approximately 400 engaged roughly 90 British Army troops at this location. The battle was the first instance in which American forces advanced in formation on the British regulars, inflicted casualties, and routed their opponents. It was a pivotal moment in the Battles of Lexington and Concord and in American history. The significance of the historic events at the North Bridge inspired Ralph Waldo Emerson to refer to the moment as the "shot heard round the world."
Minute Man National Historical Park commemorates the opening battle in the American Revolutionary War. It also includes the Wayside, home in turn to three noted American authors. The National Historical Park is under the jurisdiction of the National Park Service and protects 970 acres (392.5 ha) in and around the Massachusetts towns of Lexington, Lincoln, and Concord.
Latin Bridge is an Ottoman-era bridge over the river Miljacka in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The Battles of Lexington and Concord were some of the leading military engagements of the American Revolutionary War. The battles were fought on April 19, 1775, in Middlesex County, Province of Massachusetts Bay, within the towns of Lexington, Concord, Lincoln, Menotomy, and Cambridge. They marked the outbreak of armed conflict between the Kingdom of Great Britain and Patriot militias from America's thirteen colonies.
Isaac Davis was a gunsmith and a militia officer who commanded a company of Minutemen from Acton, Massachusetts, during the first battle of the American Revolutionary War. In the months leading up to the Revolution, Davis set unusually high standards for his company in terms of equipment, training, and preparedness. His company was selected to lead the advance on the British Regulars during the Battle of Concord because his men were entirely outfitted with bayonets. During the American advance on the British at the Old North Bridge, Davis was among the first killed and was the first American officer to die in the Revolution.
Archduke Franz Ferdinand Carl Ludwig Joseph Maria of Austria was the heir presumptive to the throne of Austria-Hungary. His assassination in Sarajevo was the most immediate cause of World War I.
The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand was one of the key events that led to World War I. Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir presumptive to the Austro-Hungarian throne, and his wife, Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg, were assassinated on 28 June 1914 by Bosnian Serb student Gavrilo Princip. They were shot at close range while being driven through Sarajevo, the provincial capital of Bosnia-Herzegovina, formally annexed by Austria-Hungary in 1908.
Leopold Lojka was the chauffeur of the car carrying Austro-Hungarian Archduke Franz Ferdinand at the time of Ferdinand's assassination in Sarajevo in 1914.
Battle Road, formerly known as the Old Concord Road and the Bay Road, is a historic road in Massachusetts, United States. It was formerly part of the main road connecting Lexington, Lincoln and Concord, three of the main towns involved in the American Revolutionary War. It was on Battle Road that thousands of colonial militia and British regulars fought during the redcoats' retreat from Concord to Boston on the morning and afternoon of April 19, 1775.
The Museum of Sarajevo 1878–1918 is located near the Latin Bridge in central Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The building had been Moritz Schiller's Delicatessen in 1914, the year that Franz Ferdinand, the heir presumptive to the throne of Austria-Hungary was shot dead by Gavrilo Princip from the street corner outside, indirectly starting World War I.
Major John Buttrick was one of the leaders of the Concord militia during the Battle of Concord on April 19, 1775. Given the usual interpretation of the first stanza of Ralph Waldo Emerson's famous poem "Concord Hymn," Buttrick is the man who ordered "the shot heard around the world."
Fehim Effendi Čurčić was a Bosnian politician who served as the 5th Mayor of Sarajevo from 1910 to 1915. On 28 June 1914, Mayor Čurčić welcomed Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg to Sarajevo and was present later the same day at their assassination, the event that sparked World War I. He died aged 50 in an Austrian sanatorium.
The Lexington–Concord Sesquicentennial half dollar, sometimes the Lexington–Concord half dollar or Patriot half dollar, is a commemorative fifty-cent piece struck by the United States Bureau of the Mint in 1925 in honor of the 150th anniversary of the Battles of Lexington and Concord, which began the American Revolutionary War. It was designed by Chester Beach and features Daniel Chester French's 1874 The Minute Man statue on the obverse.
The Minute Man is an 1874 sculpture by Daniel Chester French in Minute Man National Historical Park, Concord, Massachusetts. It was created between 1871 and 1874 after extensive research, and was originally intended to be made of stone. The medium was switched to bronze and it was cast from ten Civil War-era cannons appropriated by Congress.
The shot heard round the world is a nickname given for the opening gunshot fired in the Battles of Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775, which began the American Revolutionary War.