The Assassination of Archduke Ferdinand
Governor Pitiorek assured the heir to the Austrian Empire that Bosnians rarely tried to murder the same man twice in one day.
1914
Governor Pitiorek assured the heir to the Austrian Empire that Bosnians rarely tried to murder the same man twice in one day.
1914
In 1878, Serbia broke free from the Ottoman Empire, but thirty years later, Austria seized Bosnia from Serbia. The snatch was bitterly resented, and on June 28th, 1914, Bosnian Serbs could be found on the streets of Sarajevo celebrating the first anniversary of Serbia’s recovery of Kosovo from Turkish rule. It was amidst this swelling of Serbian national pride that Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir presumptive to the throne of Austria-Hungary, chose to make an official visit.
Motoring in Serajevo is a leisurely business, and there was a great crowd along the Appel Quay.* Just before they reached the Chumuria Bridge over the Miliatzka a black package fell on the open hood of the Archduke’s car. He pushed it off, and it exploded in front of the second car, slightly wounding two of his suite and six or seven spectators. The would-be assassin was arrested. He was a compositor called Gabrinovitch,* from Trebinje in Herzegovina, who had lived some time in Belgrade.* “The fellow will get the Cross of Merit for this,” was the reported remark of the Archduke. He knew his real enemies, and was aware that to powerful circles in Vienna and Budapest the news of his death would not be unwelcome.*
Arrived at the Town Hall, the Archduke was presented to the Burgomaster. He was in something of a temper. “What is the use of your speeches?” he asked. “I come here to pay you a visit, and I am greeted with bombs.” The embarrassed city dignitaries read the address of welcome, and the Archduke made a formal reply. He then proposed to drive to the hospital to visit his wounded aide-de-camp.
* In 1914, Serajevo, or more commonly today Sarajevo, was the chief city of Bosnia. Austria had occupied Bosnia in 1878 when it was still under the Turkish Ottoman Empire, and had then formally annexed it in 1908. The resentment towards Archduke Ferdinand, heir presumptive to the throne of Austria, arose from this recent history. When the Great War ended in 1918, Serbia and Bosnia together became part of Yugoslavia. After the collapse of Yugoslavia in 1992, Serbia regained independence but Bosnia broke away, and following an invasion by NATO forces in 1994, Sarajevo became the capital of a separate state, Bosnia and Herzogovina. The Serb population of Bosnia now largely lives in the administrative ‘entity’ named Republika Srpska.
* Nedeljko Čabrinović (1895-1916). He was sentenced to twenty years hard labour, but died in prison in 1916.
* Belgrade is the capital city of Serbia. Serbia had gained independence from the Ottoman Empire (based in Turkey) in 1878. After the Great War ended in 1918, it was merged in Yugoslavia and fell under the Communist yoke.
* In 1914, Austria and Hungary were technically two distinct sovereign states but they had the same monarch: Charles I, Emperor of Austria, was also King of Hungary, and the two states shared some political institutions. The union had been forged in 1867 under Franz Joseph I. Archduke Franz Ferdinand was the heir presumptive to both crowns. Hungary broke from the union in 1918, at the end of the Great War.
Suggest answers to this question. See if you can limit one answer to exactly seven words.
How did Archduke Ferdinand react to the first attempt on his life?
He was angry, but not unduly alarmed.