Gavrilo Princip, Sarajevo and World War I Essays

The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo, Bosnia, on June 28, 1914 (Brook-Shepherd 250), gave the Austro-Hungarians the justification needed to attack the Pan-Slavic threat. All that was known at the time was that the assassins were Slavs (Kohn 255) and that they had committed the crime in the hotbed of Pan-Slavic attention in Bosnia. It was later revealed that the murderer was associated with the afore-mentioned “Black Hand” group that advocated unification of all Slavs at whatever the cost (MacKenzie 61) The immediate significance of the murder was that it gave Austria-Hungary a pretext for suppressing the Pan-Slavic

On June 28th, 1914, Austria-Hungary’s Archduke “Francis Ferdinand, Austrian heir, and [his] wife [were] murdered (Doc 10)” in Sarajevo, Bosnia. His assassin was Gavrilo Princip, who was a Bosnian Serb and was in an organization that seeked to end Austro-Hungarian rule in his home of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Princip was said to have “fired the shot that started World War 1”, and the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand was considered one of the, if not THE, main cause(s) of The First World

The Serbian nationalists were not only a main cause of Franz Ferdinand’s assassination but of World War I too.

On June 28, 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie were shot dead in Sarajevo by Gavrilo Princip, a member of a Serbian nationalist group called the Black Hand. The Black Hand was derived from a secret Serbian terrorist organization called the Narodna Odbrana, which worked towards the unification of all South Slavs in an independent, sovereign country called Yugoslavia. The Narodna Odbrana was created because South Slavs living in Serbia, as well as in Bosnia and other Slavic provinces, felt a strong nationalistic desire to unify all the members of their cultural group in a new country called Yugoslavia. The Black Hand’s commitment to Serbian nationalism led it to replace the Narodna Odbrana, while adopting its purpose, organization, and terrorist philosophy. Members of the Black Hand, driven by their desire to die as martyrs, assassinated Franz Ferdinand to quickly set the tone for a revolution meant to weaken the powerful state of Austria-Hungary and unite all South Slavs in a Yugoslavic nation.

The assassination of Austria-Hungarian’s Archuduke Franz Ferdinand is one of the biggest events leading up to World War 1, and arguably the event that started the war. He was a somewhat unpopular public figure, due to his controversial suggestions in terms of Austria-Hungary’s governing. Despite this, and the likelihood of him being targeted, he still accepted his invitation to Bosnia, an Austrian province, taking his wife Sophia to celebrate their 14th wedding anniversary.

On June 28, 1914, 50-year-old Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austrian throne, along with his 46-year-old wife Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg, were shot to death at 10:45 a.m while driving through Franz Joseph street in Sarajevo, the Capital of Bosnia. They were assassinated by Gavrilo Princip, an 19-year-old Serbian nationalist who is part of a conspiracy by a terrorist group of six assassins called "Black Hand" hoping to inspire Bosnia to revolt against rule by Austria-Hungary.

Archduke Franz Ferdinand who was the heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary rode in a parade to the town hall of Sarajevo. Gavrilo Princip a Bosnian-born Serbian and six others had plans to assassinate the Archduke. The six of them were armed with pistols and small grenade. The assassins almost didn’t complete their mission. The first two were too nervous to fire and let the parade go on. The third man Nedjelko Cabrinovic threw his grenade, but missed the Archduke’s car and knocked out the oil pan of the car behind, then took a pill of cyanide ( which was too small to actually kill him) jumped into the River Miljacka. The next two were too shocked to fire. If it's not for the wrong turn by the Archduke’s car Gavrilo Princip wouldn’t have had a clear shot. Gavrilo Princip was the only one who had the opportunity to assassinate him and closed his eyes and shot twice, killing the Archduke and his wife. This outraged Austria-Hungary and within a month declared war on

Ferdinand and his wife had arranged to tour Bosnia. As the couple rode through Sarajevo, the capital of Austro-Hungarian, on June 28, 1914, a man by the name of Gavrilo Princip jumped on their car and fired two shots, killing Ferdinand and his wife. Gavrilo Princip, was linked to a Serbian terrorist group called the Black hand("World War I History." ).

As harmony still permeated throughout Europe this goodwill would eventually falter given the underlying crises that were about to occur when in 1908 Austria proclaimed the annexation of the provinces of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which it had occupied militarily since 1878. This sudden appropriation caused a state of severe international tension among the other countries, especially Serbia in view of the fact that these provinces were mostly Serbian in population. Regrettable this abrupt annexation triggered a tremendous upheaval and outrage from Serbia whose reaction was of pure exasperation since they always looked at Bosnia and Herzegovina as an eventual legacy. Accordingly, because Serbia was for most part a client state of Russia they looked to Russia their ally for help in the matter despite the reality that Russian Foreign Minister had stealthily consented to the Austrian move in return for concessions, but they now decided they must protect. In the summer of

On June 28, 1914, the Archduke of Austria was scheduled to take a visit to the city of Sarajebo. The trip would coincide roughly with his and his wife’s 14th anniversary. However, an anti-Austrian extremist group called The Black Hand caught wind of the Archduke’s visit, and decided that they should take matters into their own hands and kill the Archduke. On the day the Archduke visited, he and his wife were shot dead by an assassin by the name of Gavrilo Princip. The murder of these two political figures intensified Astro-Serbian tensions and

Austria-Hungary formally annexed Bosnia and Herzegovina in October of 1908. This annexation angered the Serbian people. The Serbian people responded to this annexation by forming a secret society known as The Black Hand. The sole purpose of this group was to recruit and prepare men for a possible war with Austria-Hungary.

The Bosnian War was an international arms conflict that involved 2 main sides, the Republika Srpska, and Herzeg-Bosnia. The Republika Srpska would show very little sympathy towards the Non-Serb population of cities they would occupy. 1995 of the Bosnian War reached its most violent climax, Bosnian Serb Forces in occupied Srebrenica began an ethnic cleansing of the Non-Serb population, and massacred more than 8000 people. Many generals and other people of high class within the Republika Srpska were tried for their actions, but none confessed and denied everything, this is what makes the following person so significant. Dragan Obrenovic, who was the only person who admit guilt for the Genocide and it taking place. The accused, Dragan

One of the reasons led to World War One was the assassination of Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary by a Serbian (Fromkin 121). Although multiple reasons have been affiliated to his assassination, most of those reasons revolve around upholding Serbia’s power. On the one hand, Austria-Hungary had planned to attack Serbia since it was at its weakest point due to the adverse effects of the Balkan War they had just undergone (Fromkin 122). On the other hand, Serbia was making an effort to regain control over Bosnia-Herzegovina, which was under the control of Austria-Hungary (Fromkin 122). Before the assassination of Franz, the Bosnia-Herzegovina crisis had heightened to a point where Austria intended to invade Serbia (Fromkin 74). It was evident that Serbia, through the assassination of Franz, was seeking to retain its independence and protect its regions from Austria-Hungary’s influence by intimidating

The Balkans are in the eastern Europe and most of Balkans were occupied by the Slavs in while Serbia was the largest state. Their aim was ton united all the states under a Serb leadership. Since Austria-Hungary also had Slavs in their empire, they were concerned that they might unite under. If Serbia was to take over the Balkans then, that would result in Austria-Hungary be broken up. In 1908, there was a revolution in Turkey, the Ottoman empire left that meant that Austria-Hungry takeover Bosnia.

The Bosnian Crisis came directly out of this Revolution and led to tensions between powers. The Young Turks, a fairly new political group, had considerable power in the Ottoman Empire and took western ideals and tried to implement them in the Empire. As Ivan Gueshov, the Prime Minister of Bulgaria at the time describes it, “the Young Turkish Committee constitutes the only organized force in Turkey…[that] possesses power enough to impose its will.” The group’s dominant stance on the Empire’s politics allowed it to generate great change in the country’s leadership. The group overthrew the Sultan in power at the time, Abdulhamid II, and replaced him with Mohammed V. They tried to restore the 1876 constitution in the Ottoman empire which had never taken effect in the nation’s politics. They were, “eager to instill among all the various peoples of the Ottoman Empire a sense of Ottoman identity, and thus forestall its further disintegration. The Young Turks were also determined to modernize the Ottoman armed forces.” The effects of this revolution by the Young Turks were felt by people throughout the Balkans, especially by Austria and Russia, who desired control in the Balkans before any of the changes suggested by the Young Turks were implemented in the Ottoman Empire. Austria’s main objective was the overtaking of Bosnia, due to their already established rule over the region in the past. Russia, on the other hand, was focused on gaining control of the Black Sea Straits, as