Recount Text
Bibliography
Greenspan, J. (2014). The Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. History
Stories .
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.
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.
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