"Sophie! Sophie! Don't die! Live for our children!".
Watching his wife die right before his eyes, Archduke Franz Ferdinand could feel a sharp pain in his neck where the bullet had hit him. While the angry mob attacked the murderer, the driver hurriedly rushed away to seek medical assistance, but to no avail, the shot had hit his jugular vein and the blood loss would prove to be fatal.
Notwithstanding that there were several deeper causes that are at the root of the first world war; tensions between the European superpowers, the glorifying of military display of power, nationalism; every event that led to the war can be traced back to this specific day in history: The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria on 28th of June 1914.
You can find a lot of information about all the facts that happened after the assassination, but in my opinion the events on this day in June are quite remarkable and deserve a closer look. Let me tell you the story of a forbidden love, a secret organization, a failed murder attempt and the miscommunication that caused the second murder attempt to be successful.
Who was Franz Ferdinand
Franz Ferdinand was born in Graz, Austria-Hungary on the 18th of July 1863, as the son of Archduke Karl Ludwig of Austria and Maria Annunziata of Bourbon-Sicily. Franz's mother died when he was 8 years old, after which Karl Ludwig remarried Maria Theresia of Bragança. He had a good connection with his stepmother and she was supportive of his unpopular marital choices later in his life.
In 1889 Franz his life changed drastically when prince Rudolf, the oldest son of Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria, committed suicide and the Emperor appointed Franz his father Karl Ludwig as the new successor to the throne. 7 years later Franz his father died and after being recovered from a tuberculosis infection, Franz was appointed as the new heir to the throne.
He is described as a rather cold and distant person, who is impatient, suspicious and quite temperamental. He did not show much affection to anyone but his wife and children. Franz started a military career from a young age and promoted quickly through the ranks. Although he was a pacifist, he enjoyed animal hunting quite a lot. He is notorious for having killed thousands of animals, who were driven to him by his personnel so he could shoot them from his seat. Because the Archduke had not had any higher education, his knowledge was rather basic. He found this a weakness in himself and he tried to improve this by self study.
Since Archduke Franz Ferdinand belonged to the Habsburg house, which was one of the most influential houses of central Europe, it was a requirement for a future partner that she was also tied to one of the better dynasties. However, as fate decided Franz Ferdinand met Countess Sophie Von Hohenberg at a ball and fell in love with her. Although she came from a noble family, she was not considered a good enough match. Franz Ferdinand refused to marry someone else, much to the concern of other befriended leaders of the emperor who saw this a sign that the monarchy in the country was getting unstable. Under their influence, Franz Joseph I eventually agreed to the marriage on condition that children of the couple could never claim the throne and that Sophie gained no royal rights and status.
Reasons for the murder
During the Peace of Berlin in 1878, the area that includes the present Bosnia and Herzegovina was placed under occupation of Austria-Hungary, while it remained officially part of the Ottoman Empire. Serbia agreed with the boundaries established by this treaty and ruled within. This changed however, when a new monarch got to rule after the murder of the current king by Serbian military officers.
This new dynasty was more nationalistic and wanted to expand the power of the Serbian Empire. Several successful military actions, the annexation of Bosnia by Austria-Hungary in 1908 and the growing dissatisfaction among the Serbs strengthened the Serbian nationalism even more.
In the years prior to 1914 there were several murder attempts on Austrian-Hungarian civil servants by Serbian lone wolfs, but without any success.
Who is responsible
Led by the Serbian Colonel Dragutin Dimitrijević, the secret nationalist organization Black Hand strove to unite Bosnia with Serbia.
The organization did not shy away from using terrorist methods to get to their goal. It was in the heart of this organization that the idea arose to kill Franz Ferdinand during his announced visit to Bosnia and thus ignite the revolutionary flame in Bosnia. 3 people were recruited for the assassination attempt: Gavrilo Princip, Trifun Grabež and Nedeljko Čabrinović. There was also a backup group if the attack failed: Muhamed Mehmedbašić, Vaso Čubrilović and Cvjetko Popović
As a member of 'Young Bosnia', Gavrilo Princip was already a familiar face in nationalist Serb circles in Bosnia. Because of a demonstration against the Austro-Hungarian government he was expelled from school, after which he made the trip to Serbia. Here he was recruited by the Serbian guerrilla groups and he received training in bombs, rifles and knives.
Trifun Grabež was born as the son of an orthodox Serbian priest in Bosnia. After he was expelled from school as a 17-year-old, however, he moved to Belgrade in Serbia where he continued his studies. Here he ended up in the circles that supported the revolution and in the influence of the Black Hand.
Nedeljko Čabrinović left his parental home in Sarajevo before he finished his school. He participated in several demonstrations in Bosnia and was no longer welcome in several cities. After moving to Belgrade, he immersed himself in anarchist literature and met Gavrilo Princip, who in the meantime was also in contact with the Black Hand.
The assassination
The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria In June 1914, Franz Ferdinand was invited to observe military exercises in Sarajevo for 3 days. Because he had been invited here under the title of military commander and not under his royal role, he had arranged for Sophie to accompany him on the 3rd day, June 28, which otherwise would not have been allowed. This day was their wedding anniversary and in this way they could celebrate it publicly together.
After an inspection of the military barracks, the car with Franz and Sophie passed the police station in Sarajevo around 10:10. It was here that the first murder attempt took place. Nedeljko Čabrinović threw a grenade, but the driver of the car saw this happening and accelerated, this made the grenade land under the next car and injure the occupants heavily.
They hastily continued to the city hall. Once arrived, completely outraged, Archduke Franz snapped "Is this how you welcome your guests? With bombs?". After the official ceremony he was told that the wounded had been transported to the hospital, Franz wanted to adjust his route so that he could visit the wounded first, even though his trustees advised him against this. To avoid the city center, there was a new route planned but unfortunately nobody told the driver.
It was only halfway the route that people noticed that the driver was still following the original route and informed him, the driver then stopped and turned the car so he could take the adjusted route. By some million-to-one chance this all just happened right before the hiding spot of another conspirator. At this exact spot Gavrilo Princip was waiting for his moment to ignite the revolution. He did not hesitate a second when the opportunity arose and fired two shots at point blank towards the car. He wounded both Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie, who both succumbed within the hour to their injuries.
Consequences
The conspirators were arrested. Because of their young age, the 3 students could only be subject to the maximum sentence of 20 years, but they all died a few years after because of tuberculosis. The other persons who were arrested in connection with the murder received sentences between 3 years to the death penalty.
After the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, an accusation from Austria-Hungary was made to Serbia. Because Russia was the ally of Serbia, Austria-Hungary wanted reassurance that Germany would support them if war broke out.Reinforced by Germany's support, an official declaration of war was issued a month after the murder, which caused the unstable peace that existed to explode. This brought Russia and its allies England and France opposite Austria-Hungary and Germany and so marked the beginning of the first world war.
Franz Ferdinand:The band
The well-known music group with the same name has based its name on the Archduke. With the words of singer Alex Kapranos: "His life, or at least the ending of it, was the catalyst for the complete transformation of the world and that is what we want our music to be. But I don't want to over-intellectualize the name thing. Basically a name should just sound good … like music".
On the B-side of the second single that the band released you can find the song "Sophia". A reference to Archduke Franz his wife, the song also includes references to other important names related to the murder.