On this very place Gavrilo Princip stood when he assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand
on the 28th of June 1914; this was the direct cause for World War I. But how exactly did
this assassination happen? That is what you're going to find out in this video.
When we study the outbreak of WW1 we can distinguish underlying causes
and the direct cause. The underlying causes of WW1 are well well known:
nationalism, imperialism, militarism, the arms race, the rise of Germany as military and industrial
power, and the alliances. The direct cause for the outbreak of WW1 was
the assassination of Franz Ferdinand by Gavrilo Princip. So who was Franz Ferdinand and
why did Princip want him dead? Archduke Franz Ferdinand was born in 1863 he was an avid hunter
and eventually became next in line for the throne of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
He wasn't well-liked in the upper classes; he hated the Hungarians and saw the Serbs
as subhuman. He was strongly Catholic; did not like the Jews because of cultural reasons;
but he did like his wife Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg: a Bohemian aristocrat. So who was Gavrilo Princip?
He was a member of the Young Bosnians, a group of radicalized Serbs. They believed
Bosnia should not part of Austro-Hungary and would prefer unification with Serbia; see
Bosnia and Herzegovina fell under Austro-Hungarian rule in 1878; annexation occurred in 1908, not
too long ago. Princip and others they plotted to assassinate Archduke Franz Ferdinand
in March 1914 when it was announced he would visit the capital city of Bosnia: Sarajevo. In May
he and two other associates went to Belgrade (Serbia) where they were handed pistols and
bombs to carry out the attack. These were given by the Black Hand: a secret military society
in Serbia with similar ideas as Young Bosnia. After this they went to Sarajevo to plan the attack.
Austrian officials they had picked an unconvenient date for the visit of the
archduke: “On this day, St Vitus’s Day, in the year 1389, Ottoman forces had destroyed a Serb-
led army on the Field of Blackbirds (Kosovo), putting an end to the era of Serb empire in
the Balkans and creating the preconditions for the later integration of what remained
of Serbia into the Ottoman Empire. […] For Serb ultra-nationalists, both in Serbia itself and
across the Serbian irredentist network in Bosnia, the arrival of the heir apparent in Sarajevo on this of all days was a symbolic affront that demanded a response.”
And then the day
came that Franz Ferdinand and his wife visited Sarajevo. It was June 28th 1914. They would drive
a route that was predictable in an open car despite warnings that a terrorist outrage
was likely. No less than seven terrorists armed themselves and positioned themselves along
the quay. They positioned themselves in intervals along the quay so if one failed to act another
one could take his place. Armed with small bombs with detonator caps and twelve-second chemical
fuses as well as revolvers, they insured themselves of success; and despite all the warnings for
the authorities there was a low level of security. The journey began...
Muhamed Mehmedbašić, who identified as Serb Muslim, was the first to strike at the Ćumurija
Bridge. Yet, he failed to act.
The second attacker was the Bosnian Serb Nedeljko Čabrinović was the first to come into action.
He threw the bomb which missed, fell on the ground and exploded beneath the car behind
the archduke's car.
Several officers got wounded as well as a number of bystanders.
With a cyanide capsule he tried to kill himself as well as jumping in the river.
Yet, the poison did not work and the river was too low to drown him.
He was quickly captured.
Franz Ferdinand he made it to the town hall; he felt sorry for the people that got wounded and
he wanted to pay them a visit in the hospital. So they drove along the Appel Quay where the
assassins were still waiting at their posts. Yet young and inexperienced as they were three
of them failed to come into action as one of them later confessed: ‘I did not pull out
the revolver because I saw that the Duchess was there, […] I felt sorry for her.’ They drove
back through the city, but the driver was not informed about the change of itinery so he
drove into the Franz Joseph Street and it was made clear he had taken a wrong turn. But
the car had no reverse so he had to get out of the car and pull the car back. And there
is where Gavrilo Princip, on that very spot right there, was standing. He approached the car, took
his pistol and fired two shots at point blank range time. “Time – as we know from Princip’s later
testimony – seemed to slow as he left the shade of the shop awnings to take aim. The sight of the Duchess gave him momentary pause: ‘as I saw that a lady was sitting next to him,
I reflected for a moment whether to shoot or not. At the same time, I was filled with a peculiar feeling . . .’”
At first it seemed that the gunman had missed it mark as Franz Ferdinand
and Sophie were sitting motionless in the car, but he had both hit them and they were both dying.
As the car drove off Sophie died in Franz Federinand's hands as he shouted to her 'Sophie, Sophie,
don’t die, stay alive for our children!’ Sophie died and Franz Federinand died shortly after Gavrilo
Princip was beaten to the ground by a crowd and if the police would not have intervened, he would
have been lynched on the spot.
What followed was the July Crisis.
Austria-Hungary saw the assassination as an opportunity to deal with the perceived threat
of Serbian nationalism and issued an ultimatum to Serbia on July 23, 1914.
The ultimatum contained a list of demands, including allowing Austro-Hungarian officials
to investigate the crime on Serbian soil.
Serbia agreed to most demands but not all, leading to tensions between the two nations.
Frustrated by Serbia's response, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia on July 28, 1914.
This act of aggression sparked a regional conflict in the Balkans.
As Austria-Hungary mobilized its forces against Serbia, a complex network of alliances among
European powers came into play.
Germany, bound by a defensive alliance with Austria-Hungary, offered its support, known
as the "blank check."
Russia, a Slavic ally of Serbia, began mobilizing its army in response.
Germany then declared war on Russia on August 1.
The declaration of war by Germany on Russia set off a chain reaction of mobilizations
and declarations.
Russia's allies, France and Great Britain were drawn into the conflict and so was the
Ottoman Emire that became later joined the Central Powers.
So what happened to Gavrilo Princip?
Being too young to receive the death penalty he was put in prison.
It turned out they had killed the wrong guy.
Despite Franz Ferdinand being anti-Serbian and all he wanted to avoid war with Russia
and thus didn't want war with Serbia either.
But war came and eventually Serbia was overrun by the Central powers.
A big part of the Serbian population did not survive the conflict.
Princip was horrified by the outcome of his action and was destroyed by the news.
He would not live to see the end of the conflict because he died in prison in April 1918.
He comforted himself with the idea that WW1 would have broken out sooner or later, regardless
of his action.
That is true.
But the immediate trigger to WW1 was pulled right here on this very spot.
I do love to visit these historical places on location; if you want to support me you
can do so via Patreon, PayPal or via a Super Thanks. Information can be found below the
video. If you want to learn about the deeper lying causes of WW1, click right here. I want to
thank you for watching and best wishes from Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina.