Assassination in Sarajevo
On
June 28,
1914,
Franz Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria, heir to the
Austro-Hungarian throne, and his wife Countess Sophie were assassinated in
Sarajevo by
Gavrilo Princip, a member of the revolutionary youth organization
Young Bosnia. The event triggered
World War I.
Background
\nBosnia and Herzegovina had been occupied by Austria-Hungary in 1878 and annexed in 1908. Many Bosnians, primarily Bosnian Serbs, resented the occupation and preferred unification with Serbia and/or other South Slavic lands. This resentment culminated in the assassination. In addition, the Austrian authorities picked none other than the date of Vidovdan for Archduke's visit, an important Serbian Orthodox holiday.
Conspiracy
Young Bosnia was equipped with pistols and bombs supplied by the Black Hand, a secret society with links to some Serbian officers, and government officials, although the government of Serbia had no knowledge of the plan.
The level of involvement of the Black Hand is disputed. Some believe that it directly organized the attack and that Young Bosnia was in fact a subsidiary organization. Others point out that Young Bosnia was ideologically different from the Black Hand and so inexperienced that the Black Handers never really believed the attempt would be successful. Most people do agree that the Black Hand supplied the weapons and cyanide to the assassins.
The assassination
Note: The exact course of events was never firmly established, mostly due to inconsistent stories of witnesses.
The seven conspirators were inexperienced with weapons, and it was only due to a freakish set of coincidences that they were successful. The first member of the group attempted to shoot from an upstairs window, but couldn't get a clear shot. The second member, Nedeljko Čabrinović, threw a bomb (or a stick of dynamite, according to some reports) at Ferdinand's car, but missed. The explosion destroyed the following car, killing its driver and wounding the passengers, a policeman and several members of the crowd. Čabrinović tried to escape by jumping in the river, but was dragged out and severely beaten by the crowd before being taken into custody.
The next four conspirators didn't get an opportunity to attack because of the heavy crowds, and it was beginning to look like the assassination would fail. However, Franz Ferdinand decided to go to hospital and visit the victims of Čabrinović's bomb. Princip had gone to a nearby shop for a sandwich, apparently giving up, when he spotted Ferdinand's car as it drove past, having taken a wrong turn. After dashing up to the car, Princip shot Sophie in the stomach, and a second shot hit Ferdinand in the neck. They were driven to the governor's residence where they died from their wounds.
Princip tried to kill himself first by ingesting the cyanide, and then with his gun, but he vomited the poison (which Čabrinović had also done, leading the police to believe the group had been deceived and sold a much weaker poison), and the gun was wrestled from his hand before he had a chance to fire another shot.
Consequences
\nAustria-Hungary blamed the government of Serbia for the assassination and issued an unrealistic ultimatum. To the surprise of most of Europe, Serbia accepted most of the ultimatum, but Austro-Hungarian government announced that the response was not sincere and declared war on July 28, 1914. World War I had begun.
Category:World War I
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