Martin Antonenko
A Fixture
- Joined
- Jul 11, 2008
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Sarajewo...
The Serbian fanatic nationalist Gavrilo Princip is 19 years old when he becomes a murderer...:
On Sunday, June 28, 1914, he and his co-conspirators posted themselves on the embankment along the Miljacka River, which flows through Sarajevo, and awaited the distinguished visitor. The city has dressed up for the Austrian crown prince couple. Bosnian and Austrian flags wave, gun salutes are fired.
Sarajevo is the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, annexed by Austria-Hungary in 1908. The heir to the Habsburg throne, Franz Ferdinand, took part in military maneuvers south-west of Sarajevo, and the official visit to the city is now intended to round off the brief visit to the Balkans. For the archduke and his wife Sophie, this trip is one of the few opportunities to be together outside of the strict court ceremonies in Vienna. Sunday is their wedding day.
The program envisages a trip to the town hall in an open car, with the car of the local police chief in front, followed by that of the mayor, followed by the vehicle with the imperial visit and four other cars.
Franz Ferdinand is considered a reformer. In order to protect the Habsburg Empire from decay, he considers various scenarios, including the creation of a federally organized state that would strengthen the various minorities compared to the Hungarians. This fundamental openness does nothing to change the fact that he attracts the hatred of Serbian nationalists.
Gavrilo Princip, a Bosnian-born Serb, has spent the last few years in Belgrade, where he sought and found access to Serbian nationalist circles. His declared role model is a suicide bomber who tried to assassinate the Austrian head of Bosnia in Sarajevo in 1910. Princip is said to have spent the evening before the assassination at his grave. "I then wanted to shoot from the same spot," he said in court after the crime...:
Princip and his co-conspirators operate in the milieu of the Serbian secret society Unity or Death, also known as the Black Hand, and the Bosnian underground organization Young Bosnia, both fighting against Habsburg rule in the Balkans. The plan to assassinate Franz Ferdinand during his visit to Sarajevo flourished in the coffee houses of Belgrade. Black Hand liaisons help with the procurement of weapons and entry into Bosnia, Habsburg territory.
When the column of the heir to the throne approached the conspirators on June 28, Princip's comrade-in-arms Nedeljko Čabrinović managed to detonate an explosive device and throw it at the moving cars. The bomb detonates behind the vehicle of the heir to the throne, the bomb thrower is immediately overpowered and arrested...:
Sophie and Franz Ferdinand remain unharmed, the heir to the throne is said to have reacted calmly: "This guy is crazy, gentlemen, we want to continue our program."
The carriages continue to the town hall, almost as if nothing had happened. Only when the mayor delivers his speech to Franz Ferdinand and - probably because he is so excited himself - does not dwell on the bomb attack with a syllable, but sticks to his manuscript, does the archduke speak up excitedly: "Mr. Mayor! Here it comes you go to Sarajevo to visit and they throw bombs at you. It's outrageous!"
So everything could still have gone well on June 28th. A failed attempted attack, as if to warn that a visit by the future Austrian emperor to Bosnia could be dangerous.
It is probably a coincidence that the attack took place on June 28th, Saint Vitus Day. And yet this day has had a special meaning for Serbia for more than 500 years. On this day in 1389, Ottoman troops defeated the Serbian army on the Blackbird Field. It was the beginning of Turkish rule, which would last, with brief interruptions, for almost five centuries. It was not until 1882, after several uprisings against Turkish rule, that the independent kingdom of Serbia emerged. But the national question is still unresolved. Bosnia, with around 40 percent Serbian population, is considered by many to be part of a larger Serbia that is still to be created.
Why not just end the visit after the first unsuccessful attack? That can probably not be done with the Archduke. On the contrary, he decides to change the program. Franz Ferdinand wants to visit the head of state's adjutant, who was injured in the first bomb attack, in the hospital. However, the drivers of the imperial column are not informed of the change of route.
When the first car takes a wrong turn, it has to stop and reverse. The following vehicles also stop, and that of all places where Gavrilo Princip has positioned himself to wait for his chance...:
Princip, armed with a bomb and a revolver, jumps at the chance. Standing about eight feet from the imperial chariot, he fired two shots from the crowd at the heir apparent. Sophie is hit in the stomach, Franz Ferdinand in the neck. He didn't really want to shoot Sophie, Princip says later.
After the shots, the assassin can be arrested without resistance...:
At first it is not clear that the crown prince couple was fatally injured. The cars are already moving again when the Archduchess falls onto her husband's lap, who speaks to her. His words, as rumored, sound like a desperate farewell to old Austria: "Sopherl, Sopherl, don't die, stay alive for our children."
But it is too late...:
The car in which the murdered couple sat, a Gräf & Stift Motorwagen 28/32, is also on display today at Vienna...
... as well as the uniform that the Habsburg was wearing at the moment of his murder - the bloodstains can still be seen today...:
In Serbia on the other hand, the successful assassin is commemorated today...:
The Serbian fanatic nationalist Gavrilo Princip is 19 years old when he becomes a murderer...:
On Sunday, June 28, 1914, he and his co-conspirators posted themselves on the embankment along the Miljacka River, which flows through Sarajevo, and awaited the distinguished visitor. The city has dressed up for the Austrian crown prince couple. Bosnian and Austrian flags wave, gun salutes are fired.
Sarajevo is the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, annexed by Austria-Hungary in 1908. The heir to the Habsburg throne, Franz Ferdinand, took part in military maneuvers south-west of Sarajevo, and the official visit to the city is now intended to round off the brief visit to the Balkans. For the archduke and his wife Sophie, this trip is one of the few opportunities to be together outside of the strict court ceremonies in Vienna. Sunday is their wedding day.
The program envisages a trip to the town hall in an open car, with the car of the local police chief in front, followed by that of the mayor, followed by the vehicle with the imperial visit and four other cars.
Franz Ferdinand is considered a reformer. In order to protect the Habsburg Empire from decay, he considers various scenarios, including the creation of a federally organized state that would strengthen the various minorities compared to the Hungarians. This fundamental openness does nothing to change the fact that he attracts the hatred of Serbian nationalists.
Gavrilo Princip, a Bosnian-born Serb, has spent the last few years in Belgrade, where he sought and found access to Serbian nationalist circles. His declared role model is a suicide bomber who tried to assassinate the Austrian head of Bosnia in Sarajevo in 1910. Princip is said to have spent the evening before the assassination at his grave. "I then wanted to shoot from the same spot," he said in court after the crime...:
Princip and his co-conspirators operate in the milieu of the Serbian secret society Unity or Death, also known as the Black Hand, and the Bosnian underground organization Young Bosnia, both fighting against Habsburg rule in the Balkans. The plan to assassinate Franz Ferdinand during his visit to Sarajevo flourished in the coffee houses of Belgrade. Black Hand liaisons help with the procurement of weapons and entry into Bosnia, Habsburg territory.
When the column of the heir to the throne approached the conspirators on June 28, Princip's comrade-in-arms Nedeljko Čabrinović managed to detonate an explosive device and throw it at the moving cars. The bomb detonates behind the vehicle of the heir to the throne, the bomb thrower is immediately overpowered and arrested...:
Sophie and Franz Ferdinand remain unharmed, the heir to the throne is said to have reacted calmly: "This guy is crazy, gentlemen, we want to continue our program."
The carriages continue to the town hall, almost as if nothing had happened. Only when the mayor delivers his speech to Franz Ferdinand and - probably because he is so excited himself - does not dwell on the bomb attack with a syllable, but sticks to his manuscript, does the archduke speak up excitedly: "Mr. Mayor! Here it comes you go to Sarajevo to visit and they throw bombs at you. It's outrageous!"
So everything could still have gone well on June 28th. A failed attempted attack, as if to warn that a visit by the future Austrian emperor to Bosnia could be dangerous.
It is probably a coincidence that the attack took place on June 28th, Saint Vitus Day. And yet this day has had a special meaning for Serbia for more than 500 years. On this day in 1389, Ottoman troops defeated the Serbian army on the Blackbird Field. It was the beginning of Turkish rule, which would last, with brief interruptions, for almost five centuries. It was not until 1882, after several uprisings against Turkish rule, that the independent kingdom of Serbia emerged. But the national question is still unresolved. Bosnia, with around 40 percent Serbian population, is considered by many to be part of a larger Serbia that is still to be created.
Why not just end the visit after the first unsuccessful attack? That can probably not be done with the Archduke. On the contrary, he decides to change the program. Franz Ferdinand wants to visit the head of state's adjutant, who was injured in the first bomb attack, in the hospital. However, the drivers of the imperial column are not informed of the change of route.
When the first car takes a wrong turn, it has to stop and reverse. The following vehicles also stop, and that of all places where Gavrilo Princip has positioned himself to wait for his chance...:
Princip, armed with a bomb and a revolver, jumps at the chance. Standing about eight feet from the imperial chariot, he fired two shots from the crowd at the heir apparent. Sophie is hit in the stomach, Franz Ferdinand in the neck. He didn't really want to shoot Sophie, Princip says later.
After the shots, the assassin can be arrested without resistance...:
At first it is not clear that the crown prince couple was fatally injured. The cars are already moving again when the Archduchess falls onto her husband's lap, who speaks to her. His words, as rumored, sound like a desperate farewell to old Austria: "Sopherl, Sopherl, don't die, stay alive for our children."
But it is too late...:
The car in which the murdered couple sat, a Gräf & Stift Motorwagen 28/32, is also on display today at Vienna...
... as well as the uniform that the Habsburg was wearing at the moment of his murder - the bloodstains can still be seen today...:
In Serbia on the other hand, the successful assassin is commemorated today...:
