Part 6/9:
Political conflicts in Serbia culminated in the brutal assassination of King Alexander and Queen Draga in 1903, executed by army officers, including Dragutin Dimitrijevic, a man who later became a national hero. Dimitrijevic was a founding member of the secret society known as the Black Hand, an organization entrenched in Serbian nationalism and responsible for orchestrating political murders.
By the time World War I erupted, the Black Hand had thousands of members, many of whom were linked to the Serbian military and government. Their militant nationalism found support in the wake of the Balkan Wars, which shaped the course of events leading to the First World War.