First World War centenary: the assassination of Franz Ferdinand, as it happened

First World War centenary: the assassination of Franz Ferdinand, as it happened

On Sunday June 28 1914 in Sarajevo, Gavrilo Princip fired the shot that killed the Archduke and started the train of events that led to global war. Here is a step by step account of how the dramatic day unfolded

Our journey starts with an extremely promising omen. Here our car burns, and down there they will throw bombs at us.
Archduke Franz Ferdinand comments wryly on the fact that his journey to Bosnia in June 1914 begins with his car overheating
The Archduke: Franz Ferdinand, the bumptious, little-loved 51-year-old nephew of the ailing Emperor Franz Joseph, was heir presumptive to the Austro-Hungarian throne. In 1913 he was made inspector general of the armed forces of Austria-Hungary; it was this role that took him to Bosnia in June 1914, to inspect the army’s summer manoeuvres.

The Duchess: Franz Ferdinand married Countess Sophie Chotek for love, for which both paid a price. She was from a Czech noble family but was deemed unfit to be a Habsburg bride; she had been a lady-in-waiting to Archduchess Isabella, whose sister Franz Ferdinand was expected to marry. Their marriage was morganatic, meaning their children were excluded from the line of succession. Although she was made Duchess of Hohenberg in 1909, the slights were constant at functions such as imperial banquets, where she had to enter the room last.
[Sophie] could never share [Franz Ferdinand’s] rank ... could never share his splendours, could never even sit by his side on any public occasion. There was one loophole ... his wife could enjoy the recognition of his rank when he was acting in a military capacity. Hence, he decided, in 1914, to inspect the army in Bosnia. There, at its capital Sarajevo, the Archduke and his wife could ride in an open carriage side by side ... Thus, for love, did the Archduke go to his death.
AJP Taylor


The family: Three much-loved children, aged between 10 and 12 – Princess Sophie von Hohenberg (1901-1990), Maximilian, Duke of Hohenberg (1902-1962), Prince Ernst von Hohenberg (1904-1954); there was also a stillborn son (d. 1908). On the morning of his death, the Archduke sent a telegram to his children, congratulating Max on his recent exams.

The empire: 11 nationalities lived under the dual monarchy of Austria-Hungary, with as many grievances – 50 million people across modern-day Austria, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, parts of Poland and northern Italy. Bosnia-Herzegovina was the most recent addition, having been annexed in 1908. Franz Ferdinand had opposed the annexation, not from any love for the southern Slavs, but as a pointless provocation of them and of Russia.

The grievance: The formal independence of Serbia had been recognised at the Congress of Berlin in 1878. Bosnian Serbs dreamt of joining it in a Greater Serbia. While Franz Ferdinand had no personal liking for the Serbs, he was not hostile to them: in fact he was thought to be a ‘federalist’ who supported giving more autonomy to Slavic lands. This alarmed the Serbs, who foresaw the creation of a third crown in the Austro-Hungarian empire with Zagreb the possible capital – if that happened the chances of creating Greater Serbia would vanish.
The targeting of the Archduke thus exemplified one abiding strand in the logic of terrorist movements, namely that reformers and moderates are more to be feared than outright enemies and hardliners.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/history/world-war-one/10930863/First-World-War-centenary-the-assassination-of-Franz-Ferdinand-as-it-happened.html

Das Attentat von Sarajewo

28. Juni 1914: Die zwei tödlichen Schüsse auf den österreichisch-ungarischen Thronfolger
Franz Ferdinand und seine Frau Sophie verändern die Welt.

http://diepresse.com/layout/diepresse/files/dossiers/sarajewo/index.html

Attentat de Sarajevo : revivez la journée du 28 juin 1914

Ce samedi, à partir de 9 heures, Le Figaro vous propose de revivre, dans les conditions du direct, la journée qui vit l'assassinat de l'archiduc François-Ferdinand de Habsbourg et le basculement de l'Europe dans la Première Guerre mondiale.

Un homme aux larges bacchantes, en uniforme de parade, qui s'écroule avec sa femme à l'arrière de sa voiture Gräf & Stift décapotable. Frappé à la poitrine par les balles tirées par un mystérieux terroriste tout de noir vêtu. Des générations d'écoliers français connaissent cette image d'Épinal. La leçon d'histoire est connue: le dimanche 28 juin 1914, l'archiduc François-Ferdinand de Habsbourg, héritier du trône d'Autriche-Hongrie, et sa femme, Sophie, sont assassinés à Sarajevo. Précipitant, par le jeu des alliances, l'ensemble de l'Europe dans la Première Guerre mondiale.

http://www.lefigaro.fr/histoire/centenaire-14-18/2014/06/27/26002-20140627ARTFIG00164-attentat-de-sarajevo-revivez-la-journee-du-28-juin-1914.php