Forum Eerste Wereldoorlog

[Tandorini]

Gavrilo Princip was a product of the years in which the winds of anarcho-syndicalism whipped through Europe. He was an overly idealistic Bosnian Serb student who dreamed of fighting great liberation battles. One day, in the streets of Belgrade, the young student read a headline announcing a visit by the Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife, Sophie von Hohenberg, to the city of Sarajevo. June 28, 1914, was the feast of St. Vitus, patron saint of Serbia.

For Serbs, in general, and Princip in particular, Franz Ferdinand, nephew of the emperor Franz Joseph and heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, represented Hapsburg power over the Bosnians and southern Slavs who, following the example of Serbia, sought to win independence from the Central Empire. To a nationalist like Princip, this visit meant that the highest representative of the occupying empire was only a gunshot away. The student contacted the “Black Hand,” a Serbian organization that up until then had merely fired leaflets at the entourage of General Potiorek, governor of Bosnia. Although the organization refused to help him, Princip decided to persevere. He recruited five other youths to carry out his plans.

That fatal June 28 began early, when the imperial couple reached Sarajevo. From the station they headed toward the city hall in a procession of open motor cars that traveled by way of the Miljacka docks and the old quarter of Sarajevoso as to get to the city museum. When the procession reached the first terrorist, Mohammed Mehmedbasic, he couldn’t act, because of the press of the crowd cheering the archduke. The second, Vasco Cubrilovic, was surrounded by police agents and could not act either. The third, Nedjelko Cabrinovic, threw a bomb that exploded under the carriage behind Franz Ferdinand. The three other terrorists—Princip, Cvijetko Popovic, and Danilo Ilic—saw Cabrinovic being arrested and decided to hold back.

Verder lezen:
http://www.commandposts.com/2011/07/world-war-i-and-vatican-espionage/