The Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand

A Short History of the BalkansThe Balkans are a group

of countries located on a peninsula in South East Europe

This entire region was once controlled by the Ottoman Empire (Turkey)

However, during the 19th century, many Balkan nations gained their independence after revolting against the Ottomans

The Role of Austria & Russia

Austria/Hungary conquered Bosnia and other small Balkan states

Serbia, was angered by this because Austria was a threat to them and ethnic Serbians who lived in Bosnia were now stuck in Austria (nationalism)

Serbia had a very powerful friend in Russia because Russian felt it was their duty to protect all Slavic people (Pan-Slavism, a specific form of Nationalism)

Bad relations soon developed between Russia and Austria as both believed the Balkans should be controlled by them.

June 28, 1914 Archduke Franz Ferdinand

(the first son of the King of Austria) and his wife Sofie travelled to Sarajevo in Bosnia to inspect Austrian Troops.

He was greeted by thousands of supporters who lined the streets to wave at him as he passed through.

However, their was a small group of young men who would use this opportunity to make a political statement

The Black Hand

Small terrorist organization from BosniaMade up of young ethnic SerbiansUltimate goal was to force Austria/Hungary out

of Bosnia and have Bosnia become part of Serbia

The BombAs the Archduke’s

motorcade travelled through the streets of Sarajevo, Nedjelko Cabrinovic, a member of the Black hand, threw a bomb at Ferdinand’s car

The bomb missed and a car following the Archduke

Cabrinovic took poison and jumped in the river, but was fished out and arrested

“The shot heard around the World” Angered by the bomb, the Archduke decided to cut shot his tour

of the city. Instead of turning on the planned street, it was decided the cars

should stay on the Appel Quay and travel straight out of the city No one told the driver. When the driver turned, he was told to back up and get back on

the Apple Quay The driver slammed on the brakes and put the car in reverse. At this exact moment, Gavrillo Princip ran out of the crowd

and fired two shots at the car He was less than 5 feet away Franz Ferdinand was shot in the neck and Princess Sophie took a

bullet in the stomach, both were dead before they got to the hospital

Princip tried to shoot himself but people grabbed his arms and he was soon arrested

The Link to SerbiaDuring the investigation,

it was discovered that the Black hand were not just a small group of young men.

Rather, they had been funded and organized by Dragutin Dimitrijevic, a Serbian General

Austria/Hungary turned to Serbia for answers

The DemandsAustria/Hungary, fearful of Russia,

turned to Germany for support. Germany offered a “Blank Cheque”Austria then demanded several things

from SerbiaSerbia accepted all the demands

except one, they would not allow the Austrians to conduct their of investigation inside Serbia itself

Austria declared war on Serbia

Russian Mobilization As soon as Austria/Hungary declared war, Russia

mobilized its army along its entire western borderGermany requested that the Russians back off,

but were deniedKaiser Wilhelm of Germany sent several

telegrams to his cousin, Tsar Nicholas of Russia, begging him to pull back

However, the battle plans that were made years before were unfolding and both leaders felt powerless to stop them.

A war was starting and no one knew how to stop it. The only question was who would fire the first shot.

Key PointsFranz Ferdinand was murdered by Gavrillo

PrincipPrincip was part of the Black Hand, a Serbian

terrorist groupAustria/Hungary declared war on Serbia

after getting total support from GermanyRussia moved its Army up towards

Austria/Hungary and Germany and refused to pull back

The war might have been avoided if all the countries of Europe had not carefully planned for it for decades.