THE EXPLORER NEWS - UNIT 5

29 / JUNE / 1914

ONE STEP CLOSER TO 

THE GREATER SERBIA

Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife, Sofia Chotek, have been murdered on their anniversary day.

Yesterday morning, the heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, and his wife, Sofia Chotek were assassinated by a Serbian gunman in Sarajevo (Bosnia-Herzegovina).

They were in Saravejo to celebrate their fourteenth marriage anniversary.
It was a very important day as well for the Serbians living in Sarajevo, as the 28th June is the day of the national patron saint in Serbia, so some of them thought that their visit on their national day was an offense and it meant the perfect day for an outrage and the possibility of achieving the dream of the Greater Serbia, an empire including the most of the slavic countries in the Balkans.

It has been discovered that a very important secret society, known as "Black Hand", was created in order to achieve the annexion of Bosnia-Herzegovina (as it was conquered by Austria-Hungary) to "the Greater Serbia" through brutal terrorist assaults on important Austro-Hungarian personalities. Among their possible victims, the archduke was the most vulnerable, so they recruited seven young Serbs living in Bosnia (so it seemed like they were Bosnians and that Serbia had nothing to do with the murder) to carry out the assault.

Franz Ferdinand had been invited by the Bosnian governor to the summer military exercises in Sarajevo. Although the head of the Sarajevo police believed that there was a real danger of an attack and asked for security measures to be tightened up, security for the visit left much to be desired. Young terrorists would never have a better opportunity.

Franz Ferdinand and his wife arrived in Tarcin on June 25th. At 9 a.m. on June 28th, after the end of the manoeuvres, the retinue went by train to Sarajevo. At 10 a.m. they were expected at the Town Hall for a reception and various events. Later they would go to lunch with General Potoirek. The crowd was waiting along the route to greet the imperial couple. Among the people were the seven terrorists. The first of them was a young man named Mehmedbasic and a few steps away was his companion Cabrinovic.

As the retinue passed, Cabrinovic threw his bomb at the Archduke's vehicle. Franz Ferdinand noticed the object flying in his direction and raised his arm to keep it away from his wife. The bomb exploded on the ground, injuring a dozen people. Meanwhile, the terrorist had ingested the cyanide he was carrying and thrown himself into the river. The poison had no effect and the Miljacka River was not deep enough to drown. A few minutes later, Cabrinovic was arrested. The other terrorists didn't act. 

When the vehicles arrived at the Town Hall, the Archduke was furious but he refused to change the plans for the day, asking only that his agenda be altered to include a visit to the hospital. Before leaving, Governor Potoirek addressed the Archduke, assuring him that he could continue his journey with complete peace of mind, as security measures and controls had been tightened throughout the city.

 Terrorist Gavrilo Princip

The vehicles should go to the hospital following the Appel Avenue, without entering the narrow streets of the old city. This change of plans would serve as a security measure, as no one would wait for them in this avenue. But none of the drivers was informed of this change.

Meanwhile, the terrorist were located at different points of the route. One of them, Gavrilo Princip, went to the Street “Franciso José” to buy in a store. Just in that moment, ignoring the change of the route, the driver of the first car turned to enter Francisco José Street, according to the instructions he had received that morning. General Potoirek realized the error and shouted at him to rectify. The driver, surprised by the general's screams, braked to backtrack. This way the car stopped a few steps from Princip, who, as soon as he realized what was happening, pulled his gun out of his pocket and shot twice, hurting the archduke in the jugular and his wife in the abdomen. Meanwhile, the terrorist tried to kill himself but one of the spectators grabbed his arm and impeded him.

Now, due to the great tension between Serbia and Austria this is our question: Will this led to a war? We will keep you informed...