First World War.com - Who's Who - Gavrilo Princip What's New Who's Who - Gavrilo Princip Gavrilo Princip (1894-1918) was born in June or July 1894, the son of a postman. One of nine children, six of whom died in infancy, Princip's health was poor from an early age: his eventual death was caused by tuberculosis. Sponsored Links After attending schools in Sarajevo and Tuzla, Princip left for Belgrade in May 1912. While in Serbia Princip joined the secret Black Hand society, a nationalist movement favouring a union between Bosnia-Herzegovina and Serbia. Princip was one of three men sent by Dragutin Dimitrijevic , the chief of the Intelligence Department in the Serbian Army and head of the Black Hand, to assassinate Archduke Franz Ferdinand , the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, during his visit to Sarajevo on 28 June 1914. Ferdinand had accepted the invitation of General Oskar Potiorek to inspect army manoeuvres in his capacity of Inspector General of the army.

The other men sent to assassinate Ferdinand were Nedjelko Cabrinovic, and Trifko Grabez. The three men were instructed to commit suicide after killing the Archduke. To this end they were each given a phial of cyanide, along with a revolver and grenades . Each of the men suffered from tuberculosis and consequently knew that they did not have long to live; meanwhile, Dimitrijevic did not wish any of the men to live to tell who was behind the assassination. The prime minister of Serbia was given advance warning of the assassination plot, and whilst a sympathiser of the Black Hand's objectives - Bosnia-Herzegovina achieving independence from Austro-Hungary - he feared war with Austria-Hungary should an assassination attempt be successful. He therefore gave orders for the arrest of the three men as they left the country; his orders were not acted upon however. Once in Bosnia-Herzegovina the three men met up with six fellow conspirators and travelled onwards to Sarajevo.

Franz Ferdinand arrived in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914, a Sunday, and was met at the railway station by General Potiorek, to be taken on to the city hall for the reception and speeches. Seven members of the Black Hand lined the route due to be taken by the Archduke's cavalcade along Appel Quay. One of the men, Nedjelko Cabrinovic, threw a grenade at the Archduke's car. The driver took evasive action and quickly sped from the scene. The grenade bounced off the back of the Archduke's car and rolled underneath the next car, exploding seconds later; two of its occupants were severely wounded. Cabrinovic swallowed his cyanide capsule as instructed, and jumped into the River Miljacka. He did not die however, but was captured and arrested. It is speculated that the capsule contained nothing other than a harmless water-based solution. Ferdinand attended the reception at the city hall and complained vociferously about his reception at the city. "What is the good of your speeches? I come to Sarajevo on a visit, and I get bombs thrown at me.

It is outrageous!" Archduke Franz Ferdinand interrupting the Mayor's welcome speech at Sarajevo's city hall, 28 June 1914. Following the reception the Archduke determined to visit those injured in the grenade explosion at the city hospital. General Potiorek decided that the motorcade should take an alternate route to the hospital, avoiding the city centre altogether. However the driver of Ferdinand's car, Franz Urban, was not informed of the change of plan and so took the original route. Turning into Franz Joseph Street, General Potiorek, who was a passenger in Ferdinand's car, noticed that the altered route had not been taken. He remonstrated with the driver who in turn slowed the car and then began to reverse out of the street. Gavrilo Princip, who happened to be in Franz Joseph Street at a cafe, seized his opportunity, and took aim at Ferdinand from a distance of five feet. His bullets struck the Archduke in the neck and his wife, Sophie, who was travelling with him, in the abdomen. Urban drove the car to the governor's residence at Konak; the couple died soon afterwards.

After the shooting Princip made to turn his gun upon himself but was seized and restrained by a man nearby, aided by several policemen. He was arrested and taken to a police station. In total eight men were charged with treason and Franz Ferdinand's murder. However under Austro-Hungarian law capital punishment could not be applied to anyone under the age of 20 when the crime was committed. Gavrilo Princip, whose precise date of birth could not be firmly established at his trial, was therefore imprisoned for the maximum duration, twenty years. He died however of tuberculosis on 28 April 1918. Click here to view film footage of Archduke Franz Ferdinand arriving at Sarajevo's Town Hall on 28 June 1914 Gavrilo Princip | Biography of the Assassination of Franz Ferdinand Gavrilo Princip Biography now available to purchase! On 28 June 1914 the Austrian heir apparent Franz Ferdinand and his wife were shot dead in Sarajevo. Their killer was the Bosnian Serb student, Gavrilo Princip . Why did he open fire? The world will presumably never be told all that was behind the muder of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand.

Probably there is not, and never was, any one person who knew all there was to know. Lord Grey British Foreign Secretary in 1914 What was Gavrilo Princip’s connection to the Black Hand, a Serbian secret society, and what part was played in the plot by the mysterious Colonel Apis? Who were his fellow conspirators, and what happened to them? Why did the murder of an unpopular archduke in a recently acquired province of the Austro-Hungarian Empire lead to the First World War, the collapse of four empires, and the re-drawing of the map of Europe? Gavrilo Princip was neither insane nor a lone assassin, but a figure for our times. This is his first English-language biography. Written by Peter Villiers whose previous publications include booked on leadership, ethics and human rights. First World War centenary: the assassination of Franz Ferdinand, as it happened - Telegraph World War One First World War centenary: the assassination of Franz Ferdinand, as it happened On Sunday June 28 1914 in Sarajevo, Gavrilo Princip fired the shot that killed the Archduke and started the train of events that led to global war.

Here is a step by step account of how the dramatic day unfolded The Daily Telegraph, June 29 1914 By Richard Preston 8:19PM BST 27 Jun 2014 Our journey starts with an extremely promising omen. Here our car burns, and down there they will throw bombs at us. Archduke Franz Ferdinand comments wryly on the fact that his journey to Bosnia in June 1914 begins with his car overheating The Archduke: Franz Ferdinand, the bumptious, little-loved 51-year-old nephew of the ailing Emperor Franz Joseph, was heir presumptive to the Austro-Hungarian throne. In 1913 he was made inspector general of the armed forces of Austria-Hungary; it was this role that took him to Bosnia in June 1914, to inspect the army’s summer manoeuvres. The Duchess: Franz Ferdinand married Countess Sophie Chotek for love, for which both paid a price.

She was from a Czech noble family but was deemed unfit to be a Habsburg bride; she had been a lady-in-waiting to Archduchess Isabella, whose sister Franz Ferdinand was expected to marry. Their marriage was morganatic, meaning their children were excluded from the line of succession. Although she was made Duchess of Hohenberg in 1909, the slights were constant at functions such as imperial banquets, where she had to enter the room last. [Sophie] could never share [Franz Ferdinand’s] rank ... could never share his splendours, could never even sit by his side on any public occasion. There was one loophole ... his wife could enjoy the recognition of his rank when he was acting in a military capacity. Hence, he decided, in 1914, to inspect the army in Bosnia. There, at its capital Sarajevo, the Archduke and his wife could ride in an open carriage side by side ... Thus, for love, did the Archduke go to his death. AJP Taylor Related Articles What sort of a man was Archduke Franz Ferdinand?

28 Jun 2014 The family: Three much-loved children, aged between 10 and 12 – Princess Sophie von Hohenberg (1901-1990), Maximilian, Duke of Hohenberg (1902-1962), Prince Ernst von Hohenberg (1904-1954); there was also a stillborn son (d. 1908). On the morning of his death, the Archduke sent a telegram to his children, congratulating Max on his recent exams. The empire: 11 nationalities lived under the dual monarchy of Austria-Hungary, with as many grievances – 50 million people across modern-day Austria, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, parts of Poland and northern Italy. Bosnia-Herzegovina was the most recent addition, having been annexed in 1908. Franz Ferdinand had opposed the annexation, not from any love for the southern Slavs, but as a pointless provocation of them and of Russia.

The grievance: The formal independence of Serbia had been recognised at the Congress of Berlin in 1878. Bosnian Serbs dreamt of joining it in a Greater Serbia. While Franz Ferdinand had no personal liking for the Serbs, he was not hostile to them: in fact he was thought to be a ‘federalist’ who supported giving more autonomy to Slavic lands. This alarmed the Serbs, who foresaw the creation of a third crown in the Austro-Hungarian empire with Zagreb the possible capital – if that happened the chances of creating Greater Serbia would vanish. The targeting of the Archduke thus exemplified one abiding strand in the logic of terrorist movements, namely that reformers and moderates are more to be feared than outright enemies and hardliners. Christopher Clark The martyr: Bogdan Žerajić, a 22-year-old Serb medical student from Herzegovina, resolved to kill Emperor Franz Joseph at the opening of a new parliament in Sarajevo in June 1910. In the event, he fired at Marijan Varešanin, the governor of the province, missed, then killed himself with his final bullet.

Vladimir Gaćinović, a driving force behind the liberation movement Mlada Bosna – Young Bosnia – wrote a pamphlet celebrating Žerajić and made a hero of him; his grave became a shrine. Among those inspired by his memory was Gavrilo Princip. I often spent whole nights there, thinking about our situation, about our miserable conditions... and so it was that I resolved to carry out the assassination. Gavrilo Princip, the eventual assassin, explains at his trial how he was drawn to Žerajić’s grave The Black Hand: The annexation of 1908 helped radicalise Serb nationalist groups. On March 3 1911, in a Belgrade apartment, Ujedinjenje ili smrt! – Union or Death! – was formed, the secret society that came to be known as the ‘Black Hand’. Gen Potiorek and Dragutin Dimitrijevic - 'Apis' The plot: Just as they were intended to be, the details of the plot are difficult to nail down.

The prime mover was Dragutin Dimitrijević, nicknamed ‘Apis’ (after the Egyptian bull god), 36-year-old head of Serbian military intelligence. In May 1903, he had led Serbian officers in overthrowing King Alexander I and his wife Queen Draga, who were murdered. The conspirators installed Peter I as the new king. Apis was present at the founding meeting of the Black Hand in 1911, as was his co-conspirator from 1903, Vojislav Tankosić, who was one of the handlers of the Sarajevo assassins. Meanwhile Gaćinović, who had joined the Black Hand in 1912, instigated a plot to kill Gen Oscar Potiorek, governor of Bosnia-Herzegovina, in January 1914, but the would-be assassins' nerve failed. Planning now focused on the Archduke's visit to Sarajevo on June 28, rumours of which had circulated as early as autumn 1913. The assassins: The three principal recruits were radicalised in the cafes of Belgrade by the Black Hand.

Trifko Grabež, Nedeljko Čabrinović and Gavrilo Princip Trifko Grabež, 19, the son of an Orthodox priest in Pale, came to the city for his schooling. Nedeljko Čabrinović, 19, who had left school at 14, went to Belgrade and found work with a printer. Gavrilo Princip, 19, left Sarajevo in May 1912 for Belgrade after being expelled from school (where he had been with Grabež). He volunteered to join Serbian guerrillas fighting Ottoman Turks in the First Balkan War but was rejected as too weak and sickly. Princip’s interest extended beyond merely the Serb cause to the freedom of all southern Slavs. I am a Yugoslav nationalist, aiming for the unification of all Yugoslavs, and I do not care what form of state, but it must be free from Austria. Gavrilo Princip at his trial Milan Ciganović, a Black Hand member and employee of Serbian state railways, was their handler; he reported to Tankosić who in turn reported to Apis.

On May 27, Tankosić gave Princip and Čabrinović four Browning pistols and six small grenade-sized bombs from the Serbian State Arsenal, as well as cyanide powder with which to kill themselves after the assassination. Čabrinović was smuggled into Bosnia on May 30, Princip and Grabež followed on May 31. The pistols used by the assassins, now in a museum in Vienna They were joined in Sarajevo by a four-man cell recruited by Danilo Ilić, a Black Hand member aged 23. He had trained as a schoolteacher, and worked in Sarajevo as a proof-reader and the editor of a local paper. His recruits were: Muhamed Mehmedbašić, 28, a Muslim carpenter from Herzegovina, who had been involved in the botched plan to kill Potiorek earlier in the year.

Cvjetko Popović, 18, was a school pupil in Sarajevo (he died in the city in 1980) Vaso Čubrilović, 17, was also at school in Sarajevo and a member of Mlada Bosna, Young Bosnia. The warnings: Serbian prime minister Nikola Pašić knew of the plot. If he did nothing and it succeeded, the Black Hand’s close relationship to the government would almost certainly be exposed; but an overt warning to Austria-Hungary would mark him as a traitor to many Serbs. So a veiled warning was sent to Vienna, via Dr Leon von Bilinski. the Austrian minister of finance, who was told that if Franz Ferdinand were to go to Sarajevo, ‘Some young Serb might put a live rather than a blank cartridge in his gun and fire it’. Bilinski rather missed the point: ‘Let us hope nothing does happen,’ he replied cheerfully.

The fateful day: Sunday June 28 1914 was St Vitus’s Day, the anniversary of the Battle of Kosovo on the ‘Field of Blackbirds’ in 1389, in which the Ottomans annihilated the Serbs. It remained a day of profound significance to all Serb nationalists. It was also the 14th wedding anniversary of Franz Ferdinand and Sophie, a reminder of the day on which he had had to sign the Oath of Renunciation confirming that their children could not succeed to the imperial throne. The day before had been cold and wet but the morning of June 28 was sunny. The couple had been staying outside Sarajevo at Ilidze for three days. So relaxed were they that they had come into Sarajevo two days before for a shopping trip, during which they were shadowed by Princip. You are wrong after all...

Everywhere we have gone here, we have been treated with so much friendliness – and by every last Serb, too – with so much cordiality and warmth that we are very happy about it The Duchess to Dr Josip Sunaric, Bosnian Croat leader, the night before the assassination The Archduke and the Countess arrive in Sarajevo by train The couple were to drive in the second of a six-car motorcade from the railway station along the river to the City Hall. Danic and the six other would-be assassins were stationed along the route. The car: a 32-horsepower, four-cylinder, open-topped Double Phaeton built in 1910 by the Viennese firm of Gräf & Sift. The numberplate was A III 118 – in which those who believe such things can see a portent of the eventual Armistice date in 1918. The Archduke's car is now in a museum in Vienna Franz Ferdinand and Sophie travelled with Gen Oscar Potiorek, the governor of Bosnia. Next to the driver in the front was Count Franz von Harrach, in charge of their security.

The royal party in the car He wore: the dress uniform of a cavalry general – blue tunic, gold collar with three silver stars, black trousers with red stripe and a helmet with green peacock feathers. She wore: white hat and veil, a long white silk dress with red and white fabric roses tucked into a red sash, and an ermine stole on her shoulders. The first attempt: Mehmedbašić was the first of the young assassination team to be passed by the motorcade. As the Archduke’s car neared, he was about to throw his bomb but panicked. Čabrinović, who was standing by river, was the first to act. He primed his bomb and threw it. The driver saw it coming and accelerated. It exploded beneath the car travelling behind the Archduke’s, the third in the motorcade, injuring several officers. A small splinter cut Sophie’s cheek. Čabrinović swallowed his cyanide powder and jumped into the shallow waters of the river Miljacka. The poison didn’t work and he was arrested. Come on, that fellow is clearly insane, let us proceed with our programme. Franz Ferdinand reacts to the bomb The remaining assassins lost their nerve.

By the time the motorcade passed Princip it was moving too fast for him to shoot. Knowing that the party would return from City Hall later, he moved across to the right-hand side of Franz Joseph Street. I didn’t pull out the revolver because I saw that the Duchess was there. I felt sorry for her Vaso Čubrilović The pause: At City Hall, the mayor of Sarajevo, Fehim Effendi Curcic, who had been in the first car, began a nervous speech of welcome. Franz Ferdinand interrupted, furiously: ‘I come here as your guest and you people greet me with bombs!’ The mayor was allowed to continue, then the Archduke spoke, the paper he held bearing the bloodstains of one of the officers in the third car. Having gathered himself, he praised the cheers of the people of Sarajevo, which he took to be an expression of relief at the failure of the assassination. The couple leave City Hall The change of plan: The motorcade was to have returned along Appel Quay and turned right into Franz Joseph Street, heading for the National Museum. But now the museum visit was cancelled; the route would be straight back back down Appel Quay.

Franz Ferdinand wanted to visit Potiorek’s wounded adjutant in hospital. Originally, Sophie was to have gone to the governor’s palace while her husband went to the museum, but now she said she wished to accompany him. No one told the drivers of the change of plan, so when the lead car in the motorcade turned right into Franz Joseph Street, the Archduke’s driver followed. Potiorek yelled that this was the wrong the way. The car was stopped and – without a reverse gear – it had to be pushed backwards. The finale: Princip had been standing outside Moritz Schiller’s cafe on Franz Joseph Street. Now he ran forward, his pistol drawn. He paused on seeing the Duchess but fired twice at point-blank range. Whether he was lucky or whether his firearms training in Belgrade had paid off, both bullets hit their targets. The first went through the door of the car and hit Sophie in the abdomen; the second hit Franz Ferdinand in the neck. Harrach, aware of the continuing threat, had been travelling on the running board. Now he saw the Duchess slump across her husband, surely aware that both were dying, and heard the Archduke’s beseeching words to her: Sopherl!

Sopherl! Sterbe nicht! Bleibe am Leben für unsere Kinde! – Sophie, Sophie, don’t die, stay alive for our children! As Princip prepared to kill himself his gun was knocked from his hands, as well as his packet of cyanide, as the crowd swarmed around him, kicking and punching; he was saved from probable death by his arrest. Čabrinović arrested. Above, Princip after his capture Franz Ferdinand and Sophie were rushed to the Konak palace. Shortly after 11am both were dead. Franz Ferdinand and Sophie lying in state The reaction: The next morning, The Daily Telegraph began its leading article: 'A dark cloud of Fate seems to overhang the fortunes of the House of Habsburg... The circumstances are so peculiar that it is very difficult to understand the reasons for the crime or the exact motives of the murderer... His death is, we believe, a serious loss to Europe at large, as well as to Austria-Hungary herself...

At a period when the world suffers from a lack of great personalities, the death of a man so strong and self-reliant as the Archduke Franz Ferdinand is a real disaster, of which it is difficult to overestimate the importance.' The paper reported that news of the deaths was relayed to the aged emperor Franz Joseph at Ischl. 'I am spared nothing,' he is said to have murmured on hearing of the assassinations. George V and Queen Mary were told the news by telegram from the British embassy in Vienna. They expressed their deep distress by return telegram. It was announced that the English Court would go into mourning for a week and a State Ball was cancelled. Kaiser Wilhelm II was in Kiel inspecting German and British warships after the reopening of the canal. It was reported that at 5pm all the ships in the harbour hoisted the Austro-Hungarian flag at half mast, including the British warships. Among German newspapers, the Berliner Tageblatt anticipated that 'the already sufficiently tense relationships of Austria-Hungary will undoubtedly be aggravated, even if no great Serbian conspiracy is demonstrable, and only Austrian subjects of Serbian nationality participated in the crime'.

In France, the Journal des Debats recognised that the Archduke's death was 'a European event of the highest political importance. The character of the late Archduke, the intentions that were ascribed to him, and his political and religious tendencies, caused it to be generally believed that his accession to power in the Dual Monarchy would be the signal of far-reaching changes'. Follow Telegraph stories of the unfolding crisis from 1914 day by day on Twitter – @TeleArchive Read the paper of 100 years ago at telegraph.co.uk/ww1archive The Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, 100 Years Ago - History in the Headlines The Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, 100 Years Ago June 26, 2014 By Jesse Greenspan Share this: The Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, 100 Years Ago Author The Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, 100 Years Ago URL Google On June 28, 1914, a teenage Serbian nationalist gunned down Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife, Sophie, as their motorcade maneuvered through the streets of Sarajevo.

Next in line for the Austro-Hungarian throne, Ferdinand had not been particularly well liked in aristocratic circles. Nonetheless, his death quickly set off a chain reaction of events culminating in the outbreak of World War I. Deeply in love, Ferdinand chose to marry Sophie Chotek in 1900 despite the opposition of his uncle, Austro-Hungarian Emperor Franz Josef, who refused to attend their wedding. Though not exactly a commoner, Sophie came from a family of obscure Czech nobles and not from a reigning or formerly reigning dynasty of Europe. As a result, her and Ferdinand’s children were declared ineligible for the throne. Sophie also became the victim of countless petty slights. At imperial banquets, for example, she entered each room last, without an escort, and was then seated far away from her husband at the dinner table. His marriage notwithstanding, Ferdinand remained Franz Josef’s heir and inspector general of the army. In that capacity, he agreed to attend a series of June 1914 military exercises in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Austria-Hungary had just annexed these provinces a few years earlier against the wishes of neighboring Serbia, which likewise coveted them.

Ferdinand believed the Serbs to be “pigs,” “thieves,” “murderers” and “scoundrels.” Yet he had opposed annexation for fear that it would make an already turbulent political situation even worse. Formerly controlled by the Ottoman Empire, Bosnia-Herzegovina’s population was roughly 40 percent Serb, 30 percent Muslim and 20 percent Croat, with various other ethnicities making up the remainder. Upon learning of Ferdinand’s upcoming visit, the Young Bosnians, a secret revolutionary society of peasant students, began plotting to assassinate him. In May, Gavrilo Princip, Trifko Grabez and Nedeljko Cabrinovic traveled to the Serbian capital of Belgrade, where they received six handheld bombs, four semi-automatic pistols and cyanide suicide capsules from members of the so-called Black Hand, a terrorist group with close ties to the Serbian army. After practicing with their pistols in a Belgrade park, the three men journeyed back to Bosnia-Herzegovina, receiving help from Black Hand associates to smuggle their weapons across the border. To this day, it remains unclear whether the Serbian government participated in the scheme.

Gavrilo Princip Ferdinand and Sophie departed their estate for Bosnia-Herzegovina on June 23. Having received multiple warnings to cancel the trip, the archduke knew that danger potentially awaited them. “Our journey starts with an extremely promising omen,” he purportedly said when the axles on his car overheated. “Here our car burns, and down there they will throw bombs at us.” After arriving at a spa town a few miles outside of Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina’s capital, Ferdinand attended two days of military exercises while Sophie visited schools and orphanages. On a whim, the couple drove in one evening to check out Sarajevo’s bazaars. While there, they attracted a crowd of onlookers, including Princip, but were apparently treated with warmth and politeness. Following a banquet with religious and political leaders, only one day of events remained before Ferdinand and Sophie were to return home. That morning, June 28, the archduke sent a telegram to his eldest son congratulating him on his latest exam results. He and Sophie then boarded a train for the short ride into Sarajevo.

For once, Sophie was permitted to walk alongside Ferdinand during a brief troop inspection, after which the couple got in an open-topped car for a motorcade ride to city hall. The car in front of them was supposed to carry six specially trained officers but instead had only one, plus three local policemen. In fact, throughout the trip, Austro-Hungarian officials allegedly focused more attention on dinner menus than security details. Meanwhile, seven Young Bosnians had fanned out along the Appel Quay, a main avenue in Sarajevo running parallel to the Miljacka River. When the motorcade passed by, its route having been published in advance, Cabrinovic asked which car carried the archduke. He then hurled his bomb at the car, only to watch it bounce off the folded-up roof and roll underneath the wrong vehicle. The subsequent explosion wounded two army officers and several bystanders but left Ferdinand and Sophie essentially unharmed. Cabrinovic jumped into the mostly dry riverbed and made a half-hearted attempt to kill himself before being apprehended. “I am a Serbian hero,” he purportedly shouted as the police led him away.

At least two other Young Bosnians also had good looks at the archduke but apparently lost the nerve to attempt an assassination. Princip taken into custody after shooting Archduke Franz Ferdinand his wife Sophie Rather than immediately flee Sarajevo, Ferdinand decided to continue on to the planned event at city hall. Upon finishing that up, he insisted on visiting the wounded officers in the hospital. In order to dissuade any other bomb throwers, the motorcade zipped down the Appel Quay at high speeds. By mistake, however, the first three cars turned onto a side street right where Princip happened to be standing. As the cars attempted to reverse back onto the Appel Quay, Princip whipped out his pistol and fired two shots at the archduke from point-blank range, piercing him in the neck and also striking Sophie’s abdomen. “Sophie, Sophie, don’t die—stay alive for our children,” Ferdinand murmured. Within minutes, though, both had passed away. Princip, a slender, 19-year-old Serbian army reject, later admitted to killing Ferdinand but said he had not meant to hit Sophie.

Three weeks too young for the death penalty, Princip was given a 20-year sentence, but contracted tuberculosis and died in jail in April 1918, at the age of just 23. With tensions already running high among Europe’s powers, the assassination precipitated a rapid descent into World War I. First, Austria-Hungary gained German support for punitive action against Serbia. It then sent Serbia an ultimatum, worded in a way that made acceptance unlikely. Serbia proposed arbitration to resolve the dispute, but Austria-Hungary instead declared war on July 28, 1914, exactly a month after Ferdinand’s death. By the following week, Germany, Russia, France, Belgium, Montenegro and Great Britain had all been drawn into the conflict, and other countries like the United States would enter later. Overall, more than 9 million soldiers and nearly that many civilians would die in fighting that lasted until 1918. Tags Gavrilo Princip Gavrilo Princip Assassin of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife.

timeline Archduke Ferdinand & Wife Assassinated 1914-06-28 show source In a chain of events leading up to World War I the Archduke and his wife were assassinated by Gavrilo Princip in Sarajevo, Bosnia. Princip was just one of a seven man team set to murder the Archduke. The assassins had prior knowledge of the street path the automobile was driving through and were lined up along side each waiting for their chance to kill the Archduke. Mehmed Mehmedbasic - failed to murder the Archduke because a police man was too close to him while he waited, and was afraid that if he failed his attempt the other assassins would not get a chance to carry out the deed. Mehmedbasic was the only assassin able to escape. Vaso Cubrilovic - failed to murder the Archduke because he was afraid that he may injure or kill the Archduke&#39;s wife. He lived through his prison sentence and became a historian. Nedelko Cabrinovic - a friend of Princip who invited him into the murder plot. He threw a bomb, but hit the wrong car which injured a few people.

He failed to kill him self by drinking poison, and he later died in prison from Tuberculosis. Cvetko Popovic - did nothing in the plot claiming he could not see the car because he was near-sighted. He survived a prison sentence and became a school principal Danilo Ilic - master mind of the assassination plot. he had connections to the Black Hand secret society, and the exile community. He had no weapon, but he was the one that supplied the others with gun’s and bombs. He was executed. Trifko Grabez - did nothing fearing he may hurt an innocent by-standard, or get his friend standing next to him unjustly arrested. He died in prison. Gavrilo Princip - Hearing the bomb going off that was thrown by Cabrinovic and assumed that the assassination was complete. The motorcade had already passed by when he realised what had happened. For some reason the motorcade came back to a place where Princip was standing on a corner, the car backed-up to turn down the same corner Princip was standing and this is when he fired two shots - one killing the Archduke, the second killing his wife. Princip failed trying to shoot him self, and in swallowing a a poison pill. He died in prison.

Princip also had ties to the Black Hand and its leader Dragutin Dimitrijevic aka Apis Related Tags Sarajevo, June 28, 1914 Sarajevo, June 28, 1914 The Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand by Micheal Shackelford Note on Slavic spelling: Due to the current limitations of HTML, certain Slavic characters can not be reproduced. I have chosen to use the same letters, but without the diacritical marks, rather than translitterating. Cabrinovic, for instance, will be spelled as is, and not rendered as Chabrinovitj, or Chabrinovitch. Accurate orthography accompanies the map shown below 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 Treaty of Berlin (1878) settled the disposition of lands lost by the Turks following their disastrous war with Russia. 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 ethnic group: Bosnians. Many Bosnian-Serbs felt a strong nationalistic desire to have their province joined with that of their Serb brothers across the river in Serbia. Many in Serbia openly shared that desire. The Annexation On October 6, 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. For whatever reason, the annexation caused quite a stir in Europe. The move was not exactly legal. Russia, particularly, 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 payed 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, 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 recruited, trained and equipped: Gavrilo Princip, Nedjelko Cabrinovic and Trifko Grabez. The Serbian Government Because of its many government and army members, the Black Hand's activities 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 bring on war with Austria. Should he warn the Austrians of the plot, he would be seen as a traitor by his countrymen. He would also be admitting to 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 Minister of Finance, Dr. Leon von Bilinski. On June 5, Jovanovic told Bilinski, that it might be good and reasonable 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 us hope nothing does happen" he responded good humoredly. 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 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 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. Arrangements were not based on the assumption that the streets were lined with assassins. As it was, only Sarajevo's hundred and twenty policemen were at work. June 28, 1914 At around 10:00 a.m., 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 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 fail. The morning was sunny and warm. 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. Amid the festive crowd mingled 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 the bomb's percussion cap against a lamp post, took aim and threw the bomb directly at Franz Ferdinand. In the short time it took the bomb to sail through the air, many small events took place. The car's owner, Count Harrach, hearing the bomb being struck against the lamp post, thought they had suffered a flat tire. "Bravo. Now we'll have to stop." The driver, who must have seen the black object flying, 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. Others in the party received minor cuts. The first and second cars continued on for a few moments 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 -- it 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 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 equiped 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 were observed as planned. Changed Plans Discussions were held as to whether 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 on 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 food store to get a sandwich. As he emerged, he met a friend who inquired about a mutual friend.

The Wrong Turn The Mayor's car, followed by Franz Ferdinand's car 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 put on the brakes and began to back up. Franz Ferdinand's car stopped directly in front of Schiller's store -- five feet away from Princip. The Shots Princip was quick to recognize 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. He thought the gun's report unusually soft. Both Franz Ferdinand and Sophie were still sitting upright. Potoirek thought the shots had missed, but given the assult, 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. Police had to rescue Princip 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 whe 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 afterward. 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 many years. For many in Vienna, the double murders provided the 'last straw' for a get-tough showdown. The trail back to the Black Hand would not be unraveled for years to come.

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. The Crisis of July turned into world war, just over thirty days after Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie were shot. MS Biography of Colonel Dimitrijvic , the mastermind. Biography of Franz Ferdinand , the slain Archduke. Biography of Sophie , Franz Ferdinand's wife. Biography of General Potoirek, Governor of Sarajevo. Biography of Princip , the gunman. Biography of Cabrinovic , the bomber. Biography of Grabez , the third Belgrade man. Biography of Ilic , the assassin who talked. Biography of Cubrilovic , a young assassin. Biography of Popovic , the other young assassin. Biography of Mehmedbasic , the Muslim who got away. Bibliography Sarajevo: the story of a political murder, by Joachim Remak, 1959.

Origins of World War I: 1871-1914, by Joachim Remak, 1967. American Heritage History of World War I, by S.L.A. Marshall, 1982. Black Hand Over Europe, by Henri Pozzi, 1935. Gavrilo Princip | Biography of the Assassination of Franz Ferdinand Synopsis The visit in June 1914 Bosnia was ‘administered on behalf of the Sultan’ by the Austro-Hungarian empire in 1878 (it had been a Turkish colony for 500 years) and annexed outright 30 years later in 1908. The Austrian conquerors were not universally popular and the Bosnian Serbs, who formed a significant part of the population, tended to look towards Serbia and the Serbs as their natural allies. The Heir Apparent to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Archduke Franz Ferdinand , visited Bosnia in June 1914, on a military inspection. He took his wife the Countess Sophie and left his three children at home.

Colonel Apis and the Black Hand Gang The role of Colonel Apis in the assassination of Franz Ferdinand has been hotly disputed, and it appears that the true facts will never be known in their entirety. Apis was a colonel in Serbian military intelligence who had planned and taken part in previous assassinations, including that of his own sovereign, King Alexander, in 1903. He was a leading member of the Black Hand, a Serbian secret society dedicated to promoting Serbia’s interests by terror, and the Black Hand had recruited, equipped and trained a number of Bosnian revolutionaries in order to assassinate one or more perceived enemies of Serbia, such as Franz Ferdinand. Colonel Apis had contact with Danilo Ilic, a conspirator whose role on the fatal morning remains mysterious. Although a significant member of the plot to kill Franz Ferdinand, by 28 June 1914 Ilic seems to have lost his nerve, and to have been exhorting his fellow conspirators not to carry out their plan. His role on the day was at best a passive one. Nevertheless, he was arrested after the event, and may have betrayed his colleagues under interrogation.

Over twenty at the time of the murder, he was tried and executed with other conspirators. The two young men who actually attacked Franz Ferdinand, Nedjelko Cabrinovic and Gavrilo Princip , were both sentenced to 20 years’ imprisonment at the same trial, as they were both too young to execute. Both died in prison of tuberculosis, as did their companion, Trifko Gravez. Princip, physically the weakest, was the last to die, in April 1918. Colonel Apis was executed by the Serbian government-in-exile in Salonika in 1917. He knew too much, and the Serbian Prime Minister stood to gain by his permanent silence. The Fatal Day – Franz Ferdinand’s Assassination Franz Ferdinand and his wife stayed just outside Sarajevo. On the fatal morning, they took Mass, had breakfast, and sent telegrams. They embarked in seven cars to motor to the official reception at the town hall. Their route would take them along the Appel Quay, where the assassins were waiting. The Archduke and his wife sat in the second car, with the Provincial Governor, General Oscar Potiorek, and an Austrian aristocrat, Count Harrach.

As they drove along the quay, the assassin Cabrinovic armed his bomb against a lamp-post, and threw it at the Heir Apparent. It exploded under the third car and caused minor injuries. Cabrinovic swallowed his poison, which failed to work, and jumped into the river, where he failed to drown as there was very little water. He was arrested and held for questioning. The programme at the town hall was completed. On the return journey, Franz Ferdinand’s chauffeur (who had not been briefed as to the revised route) turned into a narrow street leading to the old town. He was ordered to stop the car and go back to the safer Quay. Having missed his earlier opportunity, Gavrilo Princip was lingering where the car stopped outside Schiller’s café, and took his chance. He fired two shots, probably intending to kill Franz Ferdinand and Oskar Potiorek. In fact, his second shot hit the Countess Sophie, who died almost immediately, without a sound. Princip’s aim may have been deflected by an outraged spectator who saw him fire the first shot and tried to prevent the second. Princip was seized by the angry crowd and nearly killed on the spot.

Nevertheless, he managed to take his suicide pill, which failed. He was arrested and taken into police custody. The Black Hand The Black Hand The Secret Serbian Terrorist Society by Micheal Shackelford On October 8, 1908, just two days after Austria annexed Bosnia and Herzegovina, many men, some of them ranking Serbian ministers, officials and generals, held a meeting at City Hall in Belgrade. They founded a semi-secret society -- Narodna Odbrana (National Defense) which gave Pan-Slavism a focus and an organization. The purpose of the group was to recruit and train partisans for a possible war between Serbia and Austria. They also undertook anti-Austrian propaganda and organized spies and saboteurs to operate within the empire's provinces. Satellite groups were formed in Slovinia, Bosnia, Herzegovina and Istria. The Bosnian group went under the name Mlada Bosna -- Young Bosnia. Narodna Odbrana's work had been so effective that in 1909 a furious Austria pressured the Serbian government to put a stop to their anti-Austrian insurrection.

Russia was not ready to stand fully behind Serbia should things come to a showdown, so Belgrade was grudgingly forced to comply. From then on, Narodna Odbrana concentrated on education and propaganda within Serbia, trying to fashion itself as a cultural organization. The Birth of the Black Hand Many members formed a new, and again secret, organization to continue the terrorist actions. Ten men met on May 9, 1911 to form Ujedinjenje ili Smrt (Union or Death), also known as The Black Hand. The seal of their group is reproduced above. By 1914, there were several hundred members, perhaps as many as 2500. Many members were Serbian army officers. The professed goal of the group was the creation of a Greater Serbia, by use of violence, if necessary. The Black Hand trained guerillas and saboteurs and arranged political murders. The Black Hand was organized at the grassroots level in 3 to 5-member cells. Above them were district committees. Above them, was the Central committee in Belgrade.

At the top was the ten-member Executive Committee led, more or less, by Colonial Dragutin Dimitrijevic, (also known as Apis ). Members rarely knew much more than the members of their own cell and one superior above them, to ensure that the group's leaders would remain secret. New members swore "...before God, on my honor and my life, that I will execute all missions and commands without question. I swear before God, on my honor and on my life, that I will take all the secrets of this organization into my grave with me." The Black Hand took over the terrorist actions of Narodna Odbrana , and worked deliberately at obscuring any distinctions between the two groups, trading on the prestige and network of the older organization. Black Hand members held important army and government positions. Crown Prince Alexander was an enthusiastic and financial supporter. The group held influence over government appointment and policy. The Serbian government was fairly well informed of Black Hand activities. Friendly relations had fairly well cooled by 1914. The Black Hand was displeased with Prime minister Nikola Pasic. They thought he did not act aggressively enough towards the Pan-Serb cause.

They engaged in a bitter power struggle over several issues, such as who would control territories Serbia annexed in the Balkan Wars. By this point, standing up and saying 'no' to the Black Hand was a dangerous act. Political murder was one of their well known tools. It was also in 1914 that Apis decided that Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the heir-apparent of Austria, should be assassinated. Towards that end, three young Bosnian-Serbs were recruited and trained in bomb throwing and marksmanship. Princip, Cabrinovic' and Grabez were smuggled across the border back into Bosnia via a chain of underground-railroad style contacts. The decision to kill the Archduke was apparently initiated by Apis, and not sanctioned by the full Executive Committee. Those involved probably realized that their plot would invite war between Austria and Serbia. They had every reason to expect that Russia would side with Serbia. In all likelihood, they did not anticipate that their little war would mushroom into world war. Others in the government and some on the Black Hand Executive Council were not as confident of Russian aid. Russia had let them down recently.

When word of the plot percolated through Black Hand leadership and the Serbian government, Apis was told not to proceed. He made a half-hearted attempt to intercept the young assassins at the border, but they had already crossed. This 'recall' appears to make Apis look like a loose cannon, and the young assassins as independent zealots. In fact, the 'recall' took place a full two weeks before the Archduke's visit. The assassins idled around in Sarajevo for a month. Nothing more was done to stop them. The extensive network of contacts that smuggled them into Sarajevo, fed and housed them, was not utilized to stop them. This calls into question the Black Hand's and the Serbian government's desire that the plot truly be cancelled. The Assassination Of the seven young men involved, Princip succeeded in killing the Archduke. (Read the Sarajevo, June 28, 1914 article for a fuller account of the assassination.) The careful secrecy of the Black Hand delayed its being found out as the instigator of the crime until many weeks later. By that time, the guilt for the crime had settled loosely on Serbia in general.

Tensions between Serbia and Austria eventually drew in the other European powers and escalated into world war. Towards the end of 1916, Prime Minister Pasic decided to destroy the leaders of the Black Hand and break up the organization. By the spring of 1917, many Black Hand leaders, including Apis, had been arrested. A sham trial before a military tribunal was held in May 1917 for Apis and others. Among the charges was that the Black Hand had attempted to murder Prince Regent Alexander. Though the number of witnesses against them were numerous, the evidence cited was nearly all hearsay or outright fabrications. Apis and six others were sentenced to death. Three obtained commutations to long prison terms, but Apis and three comrades were executed by firing squad on June 26, 1917. In June 1917, the Black Hand was outlawed. Intriguing and insurrection, by their very nature, however, are not bothered by legalities. A new organization -- The White Hand -- was formed from trustworthy men of Narodna Odbrana . It continued the imperialistic work of the Black Hand, using the same techniques.

The death of Vojislav Petrovic, an ex-attache to the Yugoslav Legation in London, was said to be the work of Narodna Odbrana . Petrovic was preparing a book on the history of the Sarajevo assassinations and the Black Hand. In what became Yugoslavia after the war, the White Hand grew into an essential piece of the state's machinery. MS Gavrilo Princip Princip, Gavrilo (1894 -1918) Born: Oblej. The Bosnian-Serb who shot and killed Archduke Franz Ferdinand, and set the wheels of world war in motion. Gavrilo Princip was born the fourth of nine children (six died in infancy). His father worked as a postman. Gavrilo, never in robust health, attended high school in Sarajevo and Tuzla, but in 1912 traveled to Belgrade for a more Serb-nationalist education. There he became an active propagandist for the Greater Serbian cause. He was admitted to Major Tankosic's Black Hand partisan academy in 1912, but his poor health rendered him unfit for active duty.

Two years later, Tankosic recruited Princip and two others for a plot to assassinate Archduke Franz Ferdinand. Because of his earlier partisan training, Princip was the best shot of the three and showed leadership qualities. The assassination was ultimately successful. (See the Sarajevo article for a fuller account.) Police resuced Princip from the mob, many of whom wanted to kill him. Once in custody, Princip and Cabrinovic managed to confuse their amateurish interrogators, revealling nothing of the Black Hand organization and sponsorship of the plot. Danilo Ilic's confession nearly brought down their house of cards, but during the trial (in which all the defendants were present) Princip was quietly able to exercise his leadership. The code of silence held. While some of the defendants expressed remorse over their crime, Princip maintained his silence about the Black Hand with a stoic detachment. His final statement in court was short. " In trying to insinuate that someone else has instigated the assassination, one strays from the truth. The idea arose in our own minds, and we ourselves executed it. We have loved the people. I have nothing to say in my defense." Princip was found guilty.

Whether he would receive the death penalty or a prison term hinged on his exact birthday. One oaccount had him turn 20 days before the crime, another that he turned 20 a few days after . The court gave Princip the benefit of the doubt, and sentenced him to 20 years in prison. He died in the hospital of Theresienstadt prison on April of 1918, from tuberculosis of the bone. MS

Question: To which secret society did Gavrilo Princip, Archduke Franz Ferdinand’s assassin belong?
Answer: The Black Hand