WWI: Assassination

Assassination: to murder a prominent person by surprise attach for political reasons.

In 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand was the heir to the throne of the Austria-Hungary Empire. As Inspector General of the Army, Franz Ferdinand and his wife, Sophie, visited the capital of Bosnia, Sarajevo, to inspect army maneuvers.

On June 28, 1914, a nineteen-year-old Serbian assassin named Gavrilo Princip shot Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the heir to the Austrian throne. The assassination was a disaster. To start with, it almost didnʼt work. Six teenagers, none of them older than nineteen, had planned to throw a bomb in to the Archdukeʼs car as it passed by. But the boy given the job of throwing the bomb missed! The explosion went off behind the Archdukeʼs back fender. Immediately, police charged into the crowd and grabbed the bomb-thrower. He tried to swallow a capsule of cyanide to kill himself, but he couldnʼt get it into his mouth properly. He was arrested at once and dragged off to jail. At this, the other five boys fled. Gavrilo Princip went into a coffeehouse nearby to calm himself down by drinking a cup of coffee. When he finished his coffee, he stepped out onto the sidewalk and looked around. A car was coming towards him--the Archdukeʼs car, leaving the scene of the bombing to take the Archduke to safety. Princip, hardly able to believe his luck, drew his gun and shot into the car...killing both the Archduke and his wife. The leaders of Austria insisted that the assassination attempt must have been planned by the Serbian government. Serb leaders denied it, but the denial did no good. On July 28th, the Austro-Hungarian Empire declared war on Serbia.

Think About It: • Given that Gavrilo Princip was immediately arrested and eventually died in prison for his crime, do you think that Austria-Hungary was justified in declaring war on Serbia?

Count Franz von Harrach was standing on the sideboard of the car that was carrying Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife through the streets of Sarajevo and was an eyewitness to the assassination. Below is an excerpt of Count Franz von Harrachʼs memoir of that day.

As the car quickly reversed, a thin stream of blood spurted from His Highnessʼs mouth onto my right check. As I was pulling out my handkerchief to wipe the blood away from his mouth, the Duchess cried out to him, “For Godʼs sake! What has happened to you?” At that she slid off the seat and lay on the floor of the car, with her face between his knees. I had no idea that she was hit and thought she had simply fainted with fright. Then I heard His Imperial Highness say, “Sophie, Sophie, donʼt die. Stay alive for the children!” At that, I seized the Archduke by the collar of his uniform, to stop his head dropping forward and asked him if he was in great pain. He answered me quite distinctly, “It is nothing!” WWI: Assassination

His face began to twist somewhat, but he went on repeating, six or seven times, ever more faintly as he gradually lost consciousness, “Itʼs nothing!” Then came a brief pause followed by a convulsive rattle in his throat, caused by a loss of blood. This ceased on arrival at the governorʼs residence. The two unconscious bodies were carried into the building where their death was soon established.

Think About It: • What do you think the Archdukeʼs dying words to his wife reveal about his character and personal values? • Do you think he would have been a good emperor if he had survived?

The maps below depict the national boundaries of European countries before World War I and then after World War I and the signing of the Treaty of Versailles.

Think About It: • After examining the maps above, do you think that Austria-Hungary made the best decision for its empire when it declared war on Serbia in retaliation for the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand?