The Assassination of Franz Ferdinand
The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo on June 28, 1914, serves as the pivotal event that ignited World War I, an inferno that resulted in the deaths of an estimated 20 million people. This episode meticulously unravels the circumstances leading to that fateful day, marked by a confluence of nationalistic fervor and imperial tensions. As we delve into the chaotic events of that morning, we witness the inadequacies of security surrounding the royal couple, the fervent aspirations of young Serbian nationalists, and the catastrophic errors in judgment that facilitated the successful assassination. We examine the profound implications of the assassination, not merely as an isolated act of violence, but as a catalyst that unleashed the latent hostilities of Europe, transforming a regional conflict into a global catastrophe. Join us as we explore the intricacies of this historical crime and its far-reaching consequences.
History's Greatest Crimes 🏛️🔪
Welcome to History's Greatest Crimes with your hosts, Michael and Alana, professional historians! 👋
Listen now to uncover the truth! 🎧💡
Hosts: Michael and Alana are professional historians with a passion for bringing the most captivating and often overlooked criminal events of the past to light. ✨
Connect with Us:
Follow "History's Greatest Crimes" on social media for behind-the-scenes content, historical facts, and updates on future episodes! 👇
- X (formerly Twitter): @podcasthgc
- Facebook: History's Greatest Crimes Facebook 👍
- Instagram: @historys_greatest_crimes📸
Support History's Greatest Crimes:
Love the show and want to dig deeper into history's most infamous crimes? Consider supporting us by subscribing to one of our tiers: 🙏❤️
Detective Tier: Get exclusive access to:
- History’s Greatest Crimes Discord Channel
- Early access to new episodes several days in advance👂🔓
- Shout-outs on the podcast
Special Agent Tier: Unlock all Detective Tier benefits PLUS:
- Special BONUS Episodes⭐
Subscribe here: 👉 https://historys-greatest-crimes.captivate.fm/support
Takeaways:
- The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand occurred on June 28, 1914, in Sarajevo, marking a pivotal moment in history.
- A group of young Serbian nationalists planned the assassination to promote the unification of South Slavic peoples.
- The event was not merely a political murder but a carefully orchestrated act of terrorism with profound geopolitical repercussions.
- The assassination ignited a chain reaction leading to World War I, drastically altering the global landscape and resulting in millions of casualties.
- The lack of adequate security for the royal couple during their Sarajevo visit was a critical failure that contributed to the success of the assassination.
- The assassination's aftermath saw the swift escalation of tensions among European powers, ultimately resulting in a catastrophic war.
Transcript
Picture this.
Speaker A: ,: Speaker A:Located in a valley in the Alps in the southern part of the country of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the city was already bustling under the summer sun.
Speaker A:A royal tour of the city was scheduled for the visiting Archduke Ferdinand of Austria, heir presumptive to the Austria Hungarian throne, and his wife Sophie, the Duchess of Hohenburg.
Speaker B:The tour of Sarajevo was carried out in an open sports car with its top folded down.
Speaker B:The whole event was mostly intended as a display of imperial power, so it was important that the local people of Sarajevo see the royal couple.
Speaker A:But despite the importance of the royal couple to the larger Austro Hungarian empire, their motorcade had very limited security.
Speaker A:The local military commander had proposed that troops line the intended route, but he was told that that would offend the local citizenry.
Speaker B:And that's true.
Speaker B:The local citizenry wasn't entirely pleased about being ruled by the Habsburgs, the ruling family of the Austro Hungarian Empire.
Speaker B:Many believed that Sarajevo and the wider nation of Bosnia and Herzegovina should be united with Serbia, a neighboring nation located just to the east.
Speaker B:Many Serbs thought that Bosnia was more like Serbia culturally, religiously and linguistically than the Austro Hungarian empire it legally belonged to.
Speaker A:That morning, June 28, a group of young Serbian men armed with weapons and fueled by nationalist fervor, lay in wait for the royal motorcade to pass by.
Speaker A:Their target was the Archduke and duchess.
Speaker A:An assassination was the goal.
Speaker B: At: Speaker B:But it bounced off the back of the car carrying the royal couple and into the street.
Speaker B:The bomb's time detonator caused it to explode under the next car in the motorcade.
Speaker B:It destroyed that car and injured about 20 people.
Speaker B:But the Archduke and duchess continued on unharmed.
Speaker A:The royal couple and their aides considered ending the tour at the time, at least until troops could be brought into the city.
Speaker A:But the Governor General of Bosnia vetoed that idea, asking, perhaps rhetorically, do you think that Sarajevo is full of assassins?
Speaker B:So despite the earlier attack, the Archduke and duchess continued their tour through Sarajevo.
Speaker B:At one point in the journey, the driver made a wrong turn and in an attempt to correct his route, he accidentally stalled the engine.
Speaker B:It was an ill fated mistake, because the car stalled almost directly in front of another Serbian assassin, 19 year old Gavrilo Principe.
Speaker A:The assassin stepped up to the footboard of the royal couple's car and shot the Archduke and duchess at point blank range with a pistol.
Speaker A:The first bullet wounded Ferdinand in the jugular vein and the second one hit Sophie in the stomach.
Speaker B:The New York Tribune would scream the next day.
Speaker B:Heir to Austrian throne assassinated.
Speaker B:Wife by his side also shot to death.
Speaker B:Earlier attempt on their lives failed.
Speaker B:This headline captured the raw shock of that day's bloody events.
Speaker B:This wasn't just a murder.
Speaker B:It was a meticulously planned act of political terrorism.
Speaker A:The political objective of the assassination was brutally to free Bosnia and Herzegovina from Austria Hungarian rule and pave the way for a common South Slavic state.
Speaker B:But the actual outcome was the start of World War I.
Speaker B:Known at the time as the Great War.
Speaker B: s global conflict lasted from: Speaker A:Yet the initial crime itself, the assassination committed by a handful of young conspirators, was not the sole cause of the inferno that followed.
Speaker A: Europe in: Speaker A:The assassination of the heir to the Austro Hungarian empire thus acted as the spark, the unforeseen catalyst that ignited a pre existing powder keg.
Speaker B:Welcome to history's greatest crimes.
Speaker B:I'm Elena.
Speaker A:And I'm Michael.
Speaker B:In today's episode, we will unravel the conspiracy, the blunders and the tragic twists of fate that led to the assassination of of Archduke Franz Ferdinand.
Speaker B:The crime that ignited a world war.
Speaker A: paint a picture of Europe in: Speaker A:It was a continent of glittering empires, immense industrial power and burgeoning nationalisms.
Speaker A:However, beneath this veneer of progress and stability, it was a web of brittle alliances, colonial rivalries and simmering resentments.
Speaker A:The great powers were entangled in a system of mutual defense pacts that, while they were intended to maintain peace, had the potential to drag the entire continent into conflict with over a regional dispute.
Speaker B:And nowhere was this volatility more pronounced than in the Balkans, the region of southeastern Europe often referred to as the powder keg of Europe.
Speaker B:For decades, the declining Ottoman Empire had left a power vacuum and newly independent nations were flexing their muscles.
Speaker B:This was particularly the case for Serbia, a nation located right in the center of the Balkan region and directly to the east of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Speaker B:The popular goal of Serbian nationalism was to one day create a unified Slavic state that included all of the Balkan nations that shared the same culture, language and religion.
Speaker A:The biggest issue with that goal was that at the time the empire of Austria, Hungary claimed much of Central Europe.
Speaker A:Its borders stretched from what is today Austria and The Czech Republic in the west, into parts of Romania and the Ukraine in the east, and south into Slovenia, Croatia and of course, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Speaker B:The rulers of Austria, Hungary, the powerful Habsburg family, viewed the Serbian nationalistic goal to create a Slavic state with increasing alarm.
Speaker B: he Austro Hungarian Empire in: Speaker B:That move was part of the broader global trend of imperialism in which many Western nations sought to expand and create new colonies.
Speaker A: In May: Speaker A:Not only did Austria's Balkan colonies have a very different culture from the rest of the empire, but the Habsburgs, the rulers of Austria, hadn't done a good job of winning over their new Balkan subjects.
Speaker A:Their policies had just put Austrians in positions of power who maintained a quasi feudal system that kept peasants essentially enslaved to landlords.
Speaker B:The failure of the Austrian Habsburgs to address fundamental socioeconomic grievances created fertile ground for resistance.
Speaker A:The most famous of resistance groups were Young Bosnia and the Black Hand.
Speaker A:Young Bosnia was primarily made up of Bosnian Serb university students, while the Black Hand was a secret organization founded by members of the Serbian army.
Speaker A:While the members of these two groups were different, they were united in the goal to free Bosnia from the Austro Hungarian Empire and unite it with other Slavic nations in the Balkan region.
Speaker B:And in fact, when members of Young Bosnia hatched their plan to assassinate the Archduke Franz Ferdinand when he visited Sarajevo, the group received assistance from the Black Hand.
Speaker A:And we can see the goal of Young Bosnia very clearly when we look at at Gavrilo Princip.
Speaker A:In his statements during his subsequent trial for assassinating the Archduke and Duchess, he said, the political union of the Yugoslavs was always before my eyes, and that was my basic idea.
Speaker A:I am a Yugoslav nationalist aiming for the unification of all Yugoslavs, and I do not care what form of the state, but it must be free from Austria.
Speaker B:So who exactly was the accidental assassin?
Speaker B:Gavrilo Princip.
Speaker A:He was a rather interesting fellow.
Speaker A: osnian Serb peasant family in: Speaker A:But despite his poverty, Princip was an intelligent and passionate young man.
Speaker A:By the age of 16, Princip had already joined Young Bosnia, his political views thoroughly radicalized.
Speaker A:At the time he carried out the assassination of the Archduke and the Duchess, he was still very young.
Speaker A:He was only 19.
Speaker B:And Prasip was not alone.
Speaker B:The core group of assassins, often referred to as the Sarajevo 7, included a diverse cast of Young Men each bringing their own history and fervor to the conspiracy.
Speaker B:There was Nadjelko Cabrinovich.
Speaker B:He was 19 years old.
Speaker B:Like Principe, a typesetter by trade with known anarchist sympathies.
Speaker B:He threw the first bomb that failed to target the Archduke and Duchess.
Speaker B:Another was Trivco Grabej, also 19 and the son of a Serbian Orthodox priest.
Speaker B:Coordinating their efforts on the ground in Sarajevo was the slightly older Danilo Ilic.
Speaker B:He was around 23 or 24 years old, a schoolteacher turned journalist who played the crucial role of chief organizer within the city, recruiting the local members and distributing the weapons.
Speaker B:It was illich who brought three others into the plot.
Speaker B:There was Muhammad Mametsevich, a 27 year old carpenter of Muslim Bosniak heritage.
Speaker B:And there was Vaso Cubrilovich, a mere 17 year old student.
Speaker B:And finally there was Civico Popovich, an 18 year old student.
Speaker A:Their youth is striking, as is the mix of backgrounds, all united by their hatred of Habsburg rule.
Speaker B:And while members of young Bosnia were passionate and idealistic in their vision of a united Slavic nation, it was members of the Black Hand who transitioned their radicalism into actual violence.
Speaker B:The Black Hand was uncompromising in its chosen methods to free Bosnia from the Austro Hungarian Empire.
Speaker B:Its members, who were primarily government officials, professionals and army officials, worked to carry out sabotage, espionage and political murders, AKA assassinations.
Speaker A:The Black Hand provided the assassins from young Bosnia with weapons and trained them in their use.
Speaker A:The Black Hand also gave them access to a clandestine network of safe houses and agents for the infiltration of weapons and operatives into Austria Hungary.
Speaker A:The weapons themselves, specifically four Browning automatic pistols and six small bombs, originated from the Serbian state arsenal.
Speaker B:This direct link between the assassins and official Serbian military structures, even if through rogue or hyper nationalist elements, would prove to be a critical factor in Austria Hungary's severe reaction to the assassination.
Speaker B:It elevated the crime from an act of Bosnian separatists to an event with clear ties to the Serbian state.
Speaker B:Providing the pretext, Austrian leaders sought to confront Serbia directly.
Speaker A:But before we dive further into the assassination and its global consequences, let's take a little closer look at Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the target of the Black Hand.
Speaker B: In young Bosnia in: Speaker B:Franz Ferdinand was the 50 year old heir presumptive to the throne of the huge powerful Austro Hungarian Empire.
Speaker B:He was often photographed sporting a large handlebar mustache and wearing his military uniform with all of his medals pinned across his chest.
Speaker A:The Archduke was a rather complex figure, not universally popular even within the Empire's ruling circles.
Speaker A:In fact, Ferdinand was not even Supposed to be the heir to the throne, he had only become so after his cousin committed suicide and his father had died of typhoid.
Speaker B: sed a bit of a scandal in the: Speaker B:Sophie was actually a member of a noble family, giving her the title of duchess, but many still didn't think that she ranked high enough to marry a future emperor.
Speaker B:Regardless, Franz Ferdinand did what he wanted and didn't seem to care much about what others thought.
Speaker A:Yet, crucially for the events that would unfold, Franz Ferdinand was also seen as a potential reformer.
Speaker A:He advocated granting greater autonomy to ethnic groups within the empire.
Speaker A:And actually, he was a proponent of a concept called trialism.
Speaker A:Trialism envisioned reorganizing the government of the Austro Hungarian Empire into three parts according to regions.
Speaker A:The region of Austria would represent one part, Hungary would represent a second part, and the Slavic lands in the Balkans would represent a third part.
Speaker A:This approach was intended to give the Slavic populations a more significant voice and stake within the empire.
Speaker B:It's a profound irony, Michael, that this very potential for reform made Archduke Franz Ferdinand a mortal enemy to radical Serbian nationalists.
Speaker B:Gavrilo Princip himself later stated to the court that preventing Franz Ferdinand's planned reforms was one of his primary motivations.
Speaker B:Such reforms, if successful, might have satisfied some Slavic aspirations for autonomy within the empire, thereby undermining the push for complete separation and unification with Serbia.
Speaker A:So the Archduke was perceived as a threat not merely because he represented the existing imperial power, but but also because his potential success in addressing Slavic grievances could have permanently thwarted the dream of an independent Greater Serbia.
Speaker A:This made him a target for those who believed that only a complete break from Austria Hungary would suffice.
Speaker A: dinand's visit to Sarajevo in: Speaker A:He was scheduled to arrive and conduct his official duties on June 28, which ultimately became the day of his assassination.
Speaker B:Instead, for Serbs, June 28 is not just any date.
Speaker B:It is vidovden, also known as St. Vitus Day in English.
Speaker B:This was a day laden with immense historical and emotional significance, a cornerstone of Serbian national identity and memory.
Speaker B:One Serbian member of the Black Hand and co conspirator in the assassination, named Borievo Yevtyk, later vividly recounted his reaction upon learning of the Archduke's planned visit on that specific day.
Speaker A:Here is what he how dared Franz Ferdinand, not only the representative of the OPPRESSOR but in his own person, an arrogant tyrant enter Sarajevo on that day.
Speaker A:Such an entry was a studied insult.
Speaker A:28 June is a date deeply engraved in the heart of every Serb.
Speaker A: red by the Turks in Kosovo in: Speaker A:It is also the day on which, in the Second Balkan War, the Serbian arms took glorious revenge on the Turks for his old victory and for the years of enslavement.
Speaker A:That was no day for Franz Ferdinand, the new oppressor, to venture to the very doors of Serbia for a display of the force of arms which kept us beneath his heel.
Speaker B:For these young conspirators steeped in nationalist lore and a sense of historical grievance, the Archduke's presence in Sarajevo on Saint Vitus Day was perceived as a deliberate, calculated provocation, an arrogant display of imperial power on their most sacred and solemn national day.
Speaker B:It transformed the planned assassination from a mere political act into one of historical retribution and national defense in their eyes.
Speaker A:Again, the Black Hand co conspirator, Yev Tik, confirmed the impact of this symbolism in his own words when he said, our decision was taken almost immediately.
Speaker A:Death to the tyrant.
Speaker B:The choice of date poured fuel on an already raging fire of nationalist sentiment.
Speaker A:When Sunday June 28 arrived, the city of Sarajevo was adorned with flags and garlands, a festive facade for a day that would later descend into tragedy.
Speaker A:Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife, Duchess Sophie, arrived by train around 9:50am Their official program was packed a troop inspection at the military barracks, a formal reception at the town hall, and the opening of a new state museum before lunch at the Governor's residence.
Speaker B:And as we mentioned before, the Archduke and Duchess would be chauffeured from one event to the next in the city by means of a motorcade.
Speaker A:Security for the heir to the Habsburg throne, however, was shockingly, almost criminally lax.
Speaker A:Despite numerous general warnings about potential threats, the military governor of Bosnia seemed to dismiss them with an air of overconfidence.
Speaker A:Reports suggest that a mere 60 local policemen were assigned to secure a procession route stretching for four miles.
Speaker A:Critically, no soldiers were deployed for the Archduke's protection, Even though some 70,000 Imperial troops were billeted just outside the city.
Speaker B:The Archduke himself displayed a peculiar fatalism.
Speaker B:He had reportedly declared on more than one occasion that he did not think he would die a natural death.
Speaker B:When specifically warned about the dangers of such a Sarajevo visit, he allegedly told a legal advisor, quote, fears and precautions paralyze your life.
Speaker B:I would rather put my trust in God than Live in a bell jar, worrying over the next nationalist assassin.
Speaker B:End quote.
Speaker B:This fatalistic attitude contributed to the decision to travel in an open top car, maximizing visibility but also vulnerability.
Speaker A:Meanwhile, the seven assassins had taken their positions along the main thoroughfare of the city.
Speaker A:The Archduke's motorcade route was no secret.
Speaker A:It had been announced early on and was publicly known by anyone.
Speaker A:Each conspirator was armed with either a bomb or a Browning pistol, and each carried a cyanide capsule with instructions to commit suicide after their attempt.
Speaker A:In order to prevent capture and interrogation.
Speaker B:The royal motorcade set off from the military barracks for the town hall at around 10am in an early sign of the day's disorganization, three local police officers mistakenly got into the first car with the chief officer of special Security, leaving the intended special security officers behind.
Speaker B:The Archduke and Duchess rode in the third car.
Speaker B: This was a Graf & Stieff: Speaker B:They were accompanied in the car by the Governor of Bosnia and Lieutenant Colonel Count Franz von Harrock, the Archduke's close friend and bodyguard.
Speaker A:The Lieutenant Colonel actually insisted on riding on the left running board to shield the Archduke from the south riverside of the street.
Speaker A:But as we know, that effort was ultimately futile.
Speaker B:The motorcade proceeded at a leisurely pace so the crowds could see the Archduke as he drove through to the town hall.
Speaker B:Most of the spectators seemed enthusiastic, shouting cheers of Long may he live as the cars pass by.
Speaker A:But that enthusiasm would be short lived.
Speaker A:A few minutes into the drive, two of the assassins were stationed near a cafe and saw the motorcade approach.
Speaker A:But they lost their nerve and failed to act as the royal car passed by.
Speaker A:They would later claim that a policeman was standing too close and they feared being arrested before they could throw the bomb.
Speaker B: But then, at: Speaker B:This was 19 year old Nanjelko Chabrinovich, who was standing on the riverside of the street.
Speaker B:That assassin threw a hand grenade at the car carrying the Archduke and Duchess.
Speaker B:But as already noted, the grenade bounced off the folded back convertible cover of the car and into the street.
Speaker B:Rather than hitting the intended royal car, it exploded under the next car in the motorcade.
Speaker B:The explosion was so great that it completely put that car out of action, seriously wounded around 20 people, including two important Austrian diplomats, and left a huge crater in the road.
Speaker A:In the ensuing chaos, Trebrinovich swallowed his cyanide pill and leapt into the nearby river.
Speaker A:The Poison, however, was either old or ineffective, causing only vomiting and foaming at the mouth.
Speaker A:The river, only about 4 inches deep due to the dry summer, offered him no escape.
Speaker A:He was quickly apprehended by the enraged crowd and police, who had to protect him from being lynched on the spot.
Speaker B:The Archduke's car, undamaged, sped to the town hall too fast for any of the other would be assassins to make another attempt.
Speaker B:At that point, their next priority was to avoid being rounded up, the assumption likely being that their arrested co conspirator would crack under interrogation.
Speaker B:So five of the assassins hightailed it out of the area, but one did not.
Speaker B:Gavrilo Principe instead meandered across the street to stand in front of Moritz Schiller's delicatessen, which was located along the planned return route for the royal motorcade.
Speaker A:Now, just as an aside, there is a popular legend surrounding Princip and the deli he stood in front of.
Speaker A:Some people have suggested that he actually stopped at that specific deli to order a cheese sandwich.
Speaker A:And with that in mind, one might make the jump that if Princip had not stopped to eat a sandwich there, he would never have been in the right place to spot his target.
Speaker A:No sandwich, no shooting, no World War I.
Speaker B:But this is likely just a myth.
Speaker B:As mentioned, the deli was located on the return route of the royal motorcade.
Speaker A:After the first bomb attack, the Archduke's car sped to the town hall.
Speaker A:Upon arrival, Franz Ferdinand was visibly furious and shaken.
Speaker A:As the mayor of Sarajevo began his prepared address of welcome, the Archduke cut him off sharply.
Speaker B:The New York Tribune reported his indignant words, heir Burgomaster, we come to pay you a visit, and bombs are thrown at us.
Speaker B:It is an insult.
Speaker B:End quote.
Speaker B:And after a tense pause, Franz Ferdinand, regaining some composure, told the mayor, quote, now you may speak.
Speaker A:Inside the town hall, a critical discussion unfolded regarding the remainder of the day's program.
Speaker A:Duchess Sophie, understandably terrified by the morning's events, pleaded for the visit to be cut short and did not want her husband to re enter the car.
Speaker B:But it was at this juncture that the governor made a tragically flawed assessment and a fateful reassurance.
Speaker B:According to the Washington Herald, he told the anxious duchess, it's all over now.
Speaker B:Do you think that Sarajevo is full of assassins?
Speaker B:A compromise was then reached.
Speaker B:They would proceed to the hospital to visit the people who had been wounded in the previous grenade attack.
Speaker B:But the route would be altered.
Speaker B:The motorcade would avoid the narrow streets of the city center to ensure a quicker and and presumably safer journey.
Speaker A:And if all had gone as planned, everything may have turned out differently.
Speaker B:That's right, Michael.
Speaker B:A simple, almost mundane mistake sealed the fate of the Archduke and Duchess, and indeed of Europe.
Speaker B:The crucial decision to change the route was tragically not communicated to the driver of the Archduke's car.
Speaker B:Critically, the driver of the first car in the motorcade, which the royal car was meant to follow, was also apparently not informed of the due plan.
Speaker A:Consequently, as the motorcade departed the town hall, the lead car, followed closely by the Archduke's car, took the originally planned turn off of the streets of the city center, the very route that they were now supposed to avoid.
Speaker B:The Governor of Bosnia, sitting in the car with the Archduke and Duchess, immediately realized the grave error.
Speaker B:He reportedly shouted at the driver, what is this?
Speaker B:This is the wrong way.
Speaker B:The driver, confused by the conflicting instructions, stopped the car and began to reverse, attempting to get back onto the main thoroughfare.
Speaker A:The hasty maneuver caused the engine to falter directly in front of the Deli and the 19 year old Gavrilo Princip.
Speaker A:From Princip's perspective, it seemed like his target had been delivered to him, stationary a few mere feet away.
Speaker B:Principe seized the opportunity.
Speaker B:He stepped forward from the curb, drew his pistol and fired two shots in quick succession into the open car.
Speaker B:He later confessed with chilling detachment, quote, where I aimed, I do not know.
Speaker B:I even turned my head as I shot.
Speaker B:End quote.
Speaker A:Count Franz von Harrick, the Archduke's friend and bodyguard, who was riding on the car's running board on the left side, gave a harrowing first hand account of the moments that followed.
Speaker A:He recalled, as the car quickly reversed, a thin stream of blood spurted from His Highness's mouth onto my right cheek.
Speaker A:And as I was pulling out my handkerchief to wipe the blood away from his mouth, the Duchess cried out to him, for God's sake, what has happened to you?
Speaker A:At that, she slid off the seat and lay on the floor of the car with her face between her knees.
Speaker A:I had no idea that she too was hit and thought she had simply fainted with fright.
Speaker B:The first bullet from Principe's pistol struck Duchess Sophie in the abdomen, severing an artery.
Speaker B:The second bullet hit Archduke Franz Ferdinand in the neck, piercing his jugular vein.
Speaker B:Count Haareck continued his devastating account.
Speaker B:Then I heard His Imperial Highness say, sophie, Sophie, don't die.
Speaker B:Stay alive for the children.
Speaker B:End quote.
Speaker A:Herrick sees the Archduke by the collar of his uniform to prevent his head from slumping forward, and asked him if he was in great pain.
Speaker A:Franz Ferdinand replied quite distinctly in a faint voice, it's nothing.
Speaker A:He repeated that phrase six or seven times, even more faintly as he gradually lost consciousness.
Speaker B:The car, now a scene of unimaginable horror, sped towards the governor's residence for medical attention.
Speaker B:But it was futile.
Speaker B: inutes after arriving, around: Speaker A:Principe, his deadly work done, was immediately seized by the enraged crowd and police.
Speaker A:The scene that followed was violence.
Speaker A:According to witnesses, the people around him began to, quote, beat him over the head, they knocked him down, they kicked him, scraped the skin from his neck, tortured him, all but killed him, end quote.
Speaker B:Princip attempted suicide, first with his cyanide capsule, then by trying to turn his pistol on himself, but he was quickly overpowered by bystanders before he could succeed.
Speaker A:In the immediate aftermath of the assassination, chaos reigned in Sarajevo.
Speaker A:Martial law was swiftly declared as Austro Hungary authorities began a sweeping investigation.
Speaker A:Gavrilo Principe and Nedjelko Chabrinovich, captured at the scenes of their respective attacks, initially held out under intense interrogation.
Speaker A:However, Danilo Ilic, the local organizer, was picked up on a routine check and eventually broke down, revealing the names of his fellow conspirators.
Speaker A:This led to the arrest of most of the assassination team.
Speaker B: By October: Speaker B:The trial itself was a tense and revealing affair.
Speaker B:Some of the accused, like Nadelko Chebrinovic, expressed remorse for their actions.
Speaker B:Chebrinovic even wrote a letter of apology to the Archduke's three orphaned children, who reportedly forgave him.
Speaker B:During the trial, he cited the unresolved social and economic problems in Bosnia and revenge for the injustice suffered by the Serbian people.
Speaker B:Motivations for the assassination.
Speaker A:Gavrilo Princip, however, remained largely defiant and unrepentant throughout the proceedings.
Speaker A:His final statement in court was short, direct, and devoid of any plea for mercy.
Speaker A:He said, the idea arose in our own minds, and we ourselves executed it.
Speaker A:We have loved the people.
Speaker A:I have nothing to say in my defense.
Speaker A:And as noted earlier, he boldly declared his cult core belief.
Speaker A:I am a Yugoslav nationalist aiming for the unification of all Yugoslavs.
Speaker A:It must be free from Austria, end quote.
Speaker B:Now, due to a quirk of Austro Hungarian law, capital punishment could not be imposed on anyone who was under the age of 20 at the time.
Speaker B:That they committed their crime.
Speaker B:So Principe Chabrinovic and another assassin, this is Trivko Grabez, all fell into this category, and they were consequently spared execution and instead received the maxim sentence of 20 years of hard labor.
Speaker A:Danilo Illich, being older, along with two other people who had directly aided the assassins, were not so fortunate.
Speaker A: anged in Sarajevo in February: Speaker B:But even if Principe and the others avoided execution, their existence in prison was miserable and exceptionally brutal.
Speaker B: the prison Hospital in April: Speaker A: rculosis in prison in January: Speaker A:While the letter of the law spared him immediate execution, the harsh realities of their incarceration effectively became a death sentence.
Speaker B:The assassination of the heir to the Habsburg throne sent profound shockwaves across Europe.
Speaker B:For Austria Hungary, already deeply suspicious of Serbia's ambitions in the Balkans, the murders were perceived as an intolerable provocation and an existential threat.
Speaker B:The royal government in Vienna saw an opportunity to decisively crush Serbia, which it blamed for fostering the nationalist sentiments that led to the crime of assassination.
Speaker A:Crucially, Austria Hungary sought and received unconditional support from its powerful ally, Germany.
Speaker A:Historians call this moment carte blanche or a blank check assurance.
Speaker A:The Kaiser of Germany pledged that he would back any action that the Austrians took against Serbia.
Speaker B:According to reports, the Serbian populace had shown immediate elation over the assassination, with many people making remarks like, quote, it serves them right.
Speaker B:We have been expecting this for a long time.
Speaker B:This is revenge for the annexation.
Speaker B:Such reports only hardened the empire's resolve against Serbia.
Speaker A:Initially, the European public was sympathetic to the Archduke and Austria Hungary.
Speaker A:Then, as now, terrorist attacks were viewed as barbaric and counterproductive.
Speaker A:Newspapers like Britain's Daily Mirror stirred readers emotions by dwelling on the Archduke's last words to his wife and their three orphaned children.
Speaker B: ,: Speaker B:The list of demands was extensive and deliberately humiliating.
Speaker B:Among other things, Serbia was required to suppress all anti Austrian propaganda, dissolve nationalist Serbian organizations, dismiss specific officials named by Austria Hungary, and most contentiously, allowed they wanted to allow Austria Hungarian officials to carry out an investigation of the assassination on Serbian soil.
Speaker A:Contemporary American newspapers immediately grasped the ominous gravity of the situation.
Speaker A: Headlines from the late July: Speaker A:The daily Gate City in Iowa on the same day proclaimed, nightmare of war kept all Europe awake.
Speaker A:Across the Pacific.
Speaker A:The Honolulu Star Bulletin reported, serbia's reply is not satisfactory and plans for war are commenced.
Speaker A:The world at the time was holding its breath.
Speaker B:Serbia, under intense pressure, agreed to almost all of Austria Hungary's demands.
Speaker B:However, it balked at the demand allowing direct Austro Hungarian involvement in the internal investigation of the assassination.
Speaker B:Assassination in Serbia.
Speaker B:They cited it as a violation of the Serbian constitution and national sovereignty.
Speaker A:This was the single point of refusal that Austria Hungary had likely anticipated and perhaps even engineered as an unacceptable response that would justify further action.
Speaker B: th of: Speaker B:The fuse lit and Sarajevo had reached the powder keg.
Speaker A:Austria Hungary's declaration of war on Serbia set off a catastrophic and rapid chain reaction as the complex web of European alliances clicked into place with horrifying efficiency.
Speaker A:Russia, viewing itself as the protector of the Slavic Serbs, began to mobilize its vast army in response to Austro Hungarian aggression.
Speaker B:Germany, bound by treaty to Austria, Hungary viewed Russian mobilization as a direct threat.
Speaker B:German officials demanded that Russia cease its military preparations and when Russia refused, Germany declared war on Russia on August 1.
Speaker B:Anticipating that France, Russia's ally and the Triple Entente, would inevitably join the conflict, Germany also declared war on France two days later, on August 3, to strike.
Speaker A:A swift blow against France, Germany activated its long prepared Schleifen Plan, which called for a massive invasion of France through neutral Belgium.
Speaker A:This violation of Belgium neutrality was a critical turning point.
Speaker A: Britain, honoring its: Speaker A:In short, the ultimatum was get out or find out.
Speaker A: ,: Speaker B:Within a week of Austria Hungary's declaration of war on Serbia, all the major European powers with their global empires were locked into a continental war of unprecedented scale.
Speaker A:One of the most enduring and fiercely debated questions surrounding the Sarajevo assassination is the extent of the Serbian government's involvement.
Speaker A:Did Serbian prime minister and administration have prior knowledge of the plot?
Speaker A:Were they in some way complicit in the murder of the archduke?
Speaker B:The historical consensus on this issue remains elusive, with different interpretations drawing an often ambiguous evidence.
Speaker B:Historian Christopher Clark, in his influential work the Sleepwalkers argues that while direct orders from the highest echelons of the Serbian civilian government are unlikely, elements within the Serbian state, particularly the nationalist secret society the Black Hand, were undeniably involved in facilitating the plot.
Speaker A:There is evidence suggesting that the Prime Minister may have received some form of forewarning about the plot against the Archduke.
Speaker A:Accounts indicate that a vague warning was indeed passed from Serbian diplomatic channels to Austro Hungarian officials in Vienna.
Speaker A:However, this warning was either too general to be actionable, it lacked specific details, or was simply not taken seriously by the authorities.
Speaker A:Historian Vladimir Dedier and his seminal work the Road to Sarajevo suggests that the Serbian government did attempt to stop the assassins from crossing the border into Bosnia.
Speaker A:But these efforts were either too late, too poorly executed or too half hearted to be effective.
Speaker B:Other historians contend that while rogue elements within the Black Hand were instrumental in arming and training the assassinations, the official Serbian government didn't want to provoke.
Speaker B:Austria, Hungary, Serbia wasn't prepared for war against any nation, much less the giant Austro Hungarian Empire.
Speaker A:In short, it's difficult to distinguish between direct state policy and the actions of powerful nationalist factions within the military apparatus like the Black Hand.
Speaker A:It's also possible that the Serbian civilian government may have known about them, but could not, or perhaps chose not to fully control them.
Speaker B:Regardless of the complex interplay of deeper long term causes, the assassination in Sarajevo was undeniably the spark that ignited the fires of war.
Speaker A:A crime conceived and executed by a small band of young nationalists ultimately led to the mobilization of some 65 million soldiers and the deaths of an estimated 20 million people, military and civilian.
Speaker A:And we can't Forget that another 21 million people were wounded, many disabled and traumatized for life.
Speaker B: By the end of World War I and: Speaker B:The Austrian Hungarian Empire, the Ottoman Empire, the German Empire and the Russian Empire.
Speaker B:And Europe and the Middle east underwent a radical reconstruction during which new nations and new borders were created.
Speaker B:And of course, one could point out that the seeds of future conflicts also came out of World War I.
Speaker A:As the former Australian Prime Minister Paul Keating observed, the First World War not only destroyed European civilization and the empires at its heart, but also led to a second conflagration, the Second World War.
Speaker A:Robert Fisk, a veteran journalist of the Middle east, noted that the First World War produced the current Middle East.
Speaker B:The sheer disproportion between the act itself, the assassination of two people, the Archduke and Duchess, and its cataclysmic global consequences is what elevates this crime to one of the most tragically significant in human history.
Speaker B:It wasn't just the nature of the crime.
Speaker B:But the volatile world into which its impact rippled.
Speaker B:That sealed its devastating legacy.
Speaker A:Absolutely.
Speaker A:It's a stark and enduring reminder of how potent and how devastatingly catastrophic a single crime can be when it strikes at the deeply fractured fault lines of history.
Speaker A:And when the world is primed for explosion.
Speaker B:Thanks for joining us today in our exploration of another one of history's greatest crimes.
Speaker B:I'm Elena.
Speaker A:And I'm Michael.
Speaker B:Until next time.
Speaker B:Stay curious.
Speaker A:Sam.
