Next Saturday the world celebrates the centenary of a tragic event and all because of wrong turning with dreadful consequences, as this report by Michael Shackelford states

Background

Events leading up to murder

Bosnia and Herzegovina were provinces just south of Austria which had, until 1878, been governed by the Turks. The 1878 Treaty of Berlin settled the disposition of lands lost by the Turks following their disastrous war with Russia and Austria was granted the power to administer the two provinces indefinitely.

Bosnia was populated primarily by three groups: Croats (Roman Catholic), ethnic Serbs (Serb-Orthodox) and Muslims (left from the days of Turkish rule). There is no such ethnic group as ‘Bosnians’. Many Bosnian Serbs felt a strong nationalist desire to have their province joined with that of their Serb brothers across the river in Serbia and many in Serbia openly shared that desire.

The Annexation

On 6 October 1908, Austria annexed Bosnia and Herzegovina directly into the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The reasons were complex: annexation would remove any hopes Turkey might have for reclaiming the provinces. Full inclusion into the empire would give Bosnians full rights and privileges. It may have been an act of will by the Austrians, just to show that they were still an active, sovereign power.

Whatever the reason, the annexation caused quite a stir in Europe. The move was not exactly legal. Russia, in particular, was upset, even though the Russians had earlier given their consent to the annexation (Austria was supposed to help Russia in the Dardanelles, first). After Austria paid Turkey a cash settlement, most of Europe calmed down. The Serbs, however, did not. They coveted the provinces for their own Serb empire.

The Black Hand

A secret society called Ujedinjenje ili Smrt, (Union or Death) was founded in Belgrade, an outgrowth of an older Serb nationalist group: Narodna Odbrana. The Black Hand took over the older group’s work of anti-Austrian propaganda within Serbia and sabotage, espionage and political murders abroad, especially in provinces Serbia wished to annex. The group included many government officials, professionals and army officers.

When it was learned that the Heir-Apparent to the Austrian throne, Franz Ferdinand, was scheduled to visit Sarajevo in June of 1914, the Black Hand decided to assassinate him. Three young Bosnians were subsequently recruited, trained and equipped: Gavrilo Princip, Nedjelko Cabrinovic and Trifko Grabez.

The Serbian government

Because of its many government and army members, the activities of the Black Hand were fairly well known to the Serbian government. When Prime Minister Pasic learned of the assassination plot, he had a difficult problem on his hands. If he did nothing, and the plot succeeded, the Black Hand’s involvement would surely come to light. The tangled connections between the Black Hand and the Serbian government would put Serbia in a very bad position: it could even precipitate war with Austria. Paasic knew that if he warned the Austrians of the plot, he would be seen as a traitor by his countrymen. He would also be admitting to having a deeper knowledge of anti-Austrian actions in Serbia.

A weak attempt was made to intercept the assassins at the border. When that failed, Pasic decided that he would try to warn the Austrians in carefully vague diplomatic ways that would not expose the Black Hand.

The Warning

The Serbian Minister to Vienna, Jovan Jovanovic, was given the task of warning the Austrians. Because of his extremist, pan-Serb views, Jovanovich was not well received in Austrian Foreign Ministry offices. He did, however, get along better with the Finance Minister Leon von Bilinski. On 5 June, Jovanovic told Dr Bilinski that it might be a good and reasonable idea if Franz Ferdinand were to not go to Sarajevo. “Some young Serb might put a live rather than a blank cartridge in his gun and fire it.” Bilinski, unaccustomed to subtle diplomatic innuendo, completely missed the warning. “Let’s hope nothing does happen” he responded good-humouredly. Jovanovic strongly suspected that Bilinski did not understand, but made no further effort to convey the warning.

Preparations

The three Black Hand trainees secretly made their way back to Sarajevo roughly a month before Franz Ferdinand. A fourth man, Danilo Ilic, had joined the group and on his own initiative recruited three others. Vaso Cubrilovic and Cvijetko Popovic were 17-year-old high school students. Muhamed Mehmedbasic, a Bosnian Muslim, was added to give the group a less pan-Serb appearance. Four Serbian army pistols and six bombs were supplied from Serbian army arsenals.

The Visit

Franz Ferdinand accepted the invitation of Bosnia’s governor, General Oskar Potoirek, to inspect the army manoeuvres being held outside Sarajevo. The Archduke’s role as Inspector-General of the Army made the visit logical. It had also been four years since a prominent Hapsburg had made a goodwill visit to Bosnia.

The visit would also roughly coincide with his 14th wedding anniversary. While his wife Sophie, not being of royal blood, was not permitted to ride in the same car as her royal husband back in Vienna, such taboos did not apply to provincial cities like Sarajevo. During the visit, Sophie would be able to ride beside her husband – a thoughtful anniversary gift.

Security during the visit was not tight. Franz Ferdinand was a brave man and disliked the presence of secret service men. Nor did he like the idea of a cordon of soldiers between the crowd and himself. For the most part, Franz Ferdinand was welcomed warmly by the Bosnians. Sarajevo was not seen as hostile territory and arrangements were not based on the assumption that the streets were lined with assassins. As it was, only Sarajevo’s 120 policemen were at work.

28 June 1914

At around 10 am, the archducal party left Philipovic army camp, where Franz Ferdinand had performed a brief review of the troops. The motorcade, consisting of six automobiles, was headed for City Hall for a reception hosted by Sarajevo’s mayor. The chosen route was the wide avenue called Appel Quay, which followed the north bank of the River Miljacka.

In the first automobile rode the mayor, Fehim Effendi Curcic, and the city’s Commissioner of Police, Dr Gerde. In the second automobile, its top folded down and flying the Hapsburg pennant, rode Franz Ferdinand, Sophie and General Potoirek. The driver and the car’s owner, Count Harrach, rode in front. The third automobile in the procession carried the head of Franz Ferdinand’s military chancellery, Sophie’s lady-in-waiting, Potoirek’s chief adjutant, Lieutenant Colonel Merizzi, the car’s owner and his driver. The fourth and fifth automobiles carried other members of Franz Ferdinand’s staff and assorted Bosnian officials. The sixth automobile was empty -- a spare should one of the others break down.

The morning was sunny and warm and many of the houses and buildings lining the route were decorated with flags and flowers. Crowds lined the Appel Quay to cheer the imperial couple. And mingling with the festive crowd were the seven young assassins. They took up their assigned positions, all but one along the river side of the Appel Quay. First in line was Mehmedbasic, to the west of the Cumurja Bridge. Near him was Cabrinovic. The others were strung out as far back as the Kaiser Bridge.

The Bomb

The motorcade approached and the crowds began to cheer. As Franz Ferdinand’s car passed Mehmedbasic, he did nothing. The next man in line, Cabrinovic, had more resolve. He took the bomb from his coat pocket, struck its percussion cap against a lamp post, took aim and threw it directly at Franz Ferdinand.

In the short time that it took the bomb to sail through the air, many small events took place. On hearing the bomb being struck against the lamp post, the car’s owner, Count Harrach, thought they had suffered a flat tyre. “Bravo”, he said, Now we’ll have to stop”. The driver, who must have seen the black object flying through the air, did just the opposite – he stepped on the accelerator. As a result, the bomb would not land where intended. Franz Ferdinand, also catching a glimpse of the hurtling package, raised his arm to deflect it away from Sophie. She sat to his right, and so was between Franz Ferdinand and Cabrinovic.

The bomb glanced off Franz Ferdinand’s arm, bounced off the folded car top and into the street behind them. The explosion injured about a dozen spectators. The third car was hit with fragments and stalled. Merizzi received a bad cut to the back of the head, while others in the party suffered minor cuts. The first and second cars continued on for a few moments and then stopped while everyone assessed who was injured and who was not.

After the bomb

Cabrinovic swallowed his cyanide and jumped into the river. The trouble was, the poison was old and only made him vomit -- and the river was only a few inches deep. He was quickly seized by the crowd and arrested. The motorcade continued on to City Hall, passing the other assassins. Either because they thought Cabrinovic had succeeded or from a lack of resolve, they failed to act.

At City Hall, a furious Franz Ferdinand confronted the mayor. “Mr Mayor, one comes here for a visit and is received by bombs! It is outrageous!” After a pause to calm himself, he regained his composure and let the mayor speak. The Mayor, either completely unaware of what had happened, or personally ill-equipped for crises, launched into his prepared speech. “Your Royal and Imperial Highness! Our hearts are full of happiness...”

By the end of the mayor’s speech, Franz Ferdinand had regained his composure and thanked his host for his cordial welcome. Activities at City Hall continued as planned.

Changed plans

Discussions were held as to whether or not to change the rest of Franz Ferdinand’s schedule. The Archduke did not wish to cancel his visit to the museum and lunch at the Governor’s residence, but wished to alter his plans to include a visit to Merizzi in the hospital.

The same motorcade set out along the Appel Quay, but neither the mayor’s driver, nor Franz Ferdinand’s driver had been informed of the change in schedule. This would have been Merizzi’s job. The young assassins had counted on succeeding at the first attempt. With no assurance that Franz Ferdinand would follow his original itinerary, the remaining assassins took up various other positions along the Appel Quay. Gavrilo Princip crossed the Appel Quay and strolled down Franz Joseph Street. He stepped into Moritz Schiller’s shop to buy a sandwich and as he emerged, he met a friend who inquired about a mutual friend.

The wrong turn

The mayor’s car, followed by that of Franz Ferdinand, turned off the Appel Quay and onto Franz Joseph Street, as originally planned, to travel to the museum. General Potoirek leaned forward: “What is this? This is the wrong way! We’re supposed to take the Appel Quay!” The driver braked and began to reverse. Franz Ferdinand’s car stopped directly in front of Schiller’s shop – five feet away from Princip.

The shots

Princip was quick to realise what had happened. He pulled the pistol from his pocket, took a step towards the car and fired twice. General Potoirek happened to look directly at Princip as he fired and thought that the gun’s report was unusually soft. Both Franz Ferdinand and Sophie were still sitting upright. Potoirek thought the shots had missed, but given the assault, ordered the driver to drive directly to the Governor’s residence.

Arrest

Princip then turned the gun on himself, but was mobbed by the crowd and the police had to rescue him from the crowd before they could arrest him. Princip had swallowed his poison, but it was from the same batch as Cabrinovic’s. He was violently ill, but did not die.

Mortal wounds

As the car sped across the Lateiner Bridge, a stream of blood shot from Franz Ferdinand’s mouth. He had been shot in the neck. Sophie, seeing this, exclaimed: “For heaven’s sake! What happened to you?” She sank from her seat. Potoirek and Harrach thought she had fainted and were trying to help her up. Franz Ferdinand, knowing his wife better, suspected the truth. Sophie had been shot in the abdomen and was bleeding internally.

“Sopherl! Sopherl!” he pleaded. “Sterbe nicht! Bleibe am leben für unsere kinder!" (Sophie dear! Sophie dear! Don’t die! Stay alive for our children!)

The cars rushed to the Governor’s residence. Sophie may have died before they arrived; Franz Ferdinand died shortly afterwards.

The July crisis

The murders of Franz Ferdinand and Sophie brought Austro-Serbian tensions to a head. Serbia had been fomenting trouble for Austria for a long time. For many in Vienna, the double murders acted as the ‘last straw’ for a get-tough showdown. The trail back to the Black Hand would not be unravelled for years to come but Vienna felt she could not wait for conclusive proof and acted based on the mass of circumstantial evidence.

As Vienna took a hard line against Serbia, the other powers in Europe took sides. The wheels of war gained speed. The stakes far outgrew the squabble between Austria and Serbia and the crisis of July turned into world war, just over 30 days after Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie were shot.