Gavrilo Princip

Gavrilo Princip

Gavrilo Princip (Serbian Cyrillic: Гаврило Принцип, IPA: [gaʋ'ri:lɔ 'prinʦip]) ((1894-07-25)July 25, 1894 – (1918-04-28)April 28, 1918) was an ethnic Serb, but later proclaimed to be a Yugoslav Nationalist, with links to a group known as the Black Hand (Црна Рука or Crna Ruka) and Mlada Bosna, who assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife in Sarajevo on June 28, 1914. The event was the catalyst for the Austria-Hungarian action against the Kingdom of Serbia that led to World War I. Princip is commonly known, rightly or wrongly, as the man who started the First World War.

Early life

Princip was born in the village of Obljaj, near Bosansko Grahovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Austria-Hungarian Empire, the son of a postman. His parents, Petar and Marija (née Mičić), had nine children, five sons and four daughters, six of whom died in infancy. His health was poor from an early age. His impoverished parents could not afford to feed him and sent him to live with an older brother in Sarajevo.

Most historians agree that Princip was a member of Young Bosnia, but logistical connections to the Black Hand (Црна рука/Crna ruka) are numerous; the latter group, suffice it to say, was at least somewhat accountable for coordination, training, and/or supplying weapons related to the forthcoming assassination attempt on Franz Ferdinand (Dennis Hupchick, The Balkans: From Constantinople to Communism (New York: MacMillan, 2004), 318.). The Young Bosnia movement was a group made up of Serbs, Croats, and Bosnian Muslims, committed to the independence of the South Slavic peoples from Austria-Hungary.

In February 1912, he took part in protest demonstrations against the Sarajevo authorities for which he was expelled from school. Following his expulsion, he went to Belgrade. While crossing the border, he made a point of kissing the soil of Serbia. In Belgrade, he sought to gain admission to the First Belgrade Gymnasium but failed the entrance exam.

In 1912, Serbia was abuzz with mobilization for the First Balkan War. Princip planned to join the komite, irregular Serbian guerrilla forces under Serbian Major Vojislav Tankosic which had fought in Macedonia against Ottoman units. Tankosic was a member of the central committee of the secret society Unification or Death (Ujedinjenje ili Smrt). Princip, however, was rejected by the komite in Belgrade because of his small physical stature. He then went to Prokuplje in Southern Serbia where he sought a personal interview with Tankosić. Tankosić, however, rejected Princip for being "too small and too weak." He was determined to compensate for his lack of physical stature and the underestimation of his abilities that he was subjected to. Dedijer argued that his rejection was "one of the primary personal motives which pushed him to do something exceptionally brave in order to prove to others that he was their equal."

Assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand

Background

On June 28, 1914 Gavrilo Princip participated in the assassination in Sarajevo. General Oskar Potiorek, Governor of the Austrian provinces of Bosnia-Herzegovina had invited Franz Ferdinand and Countess Sophie to watch his troops on manoeuvers. Franz Ferdinand knew that the visit would be dangerous, knowing his uncle, Emperor Franz Josef, had been the subject of an assassination attempt by the Black Hand in 1911.

Timeline

Just before 10 o'clock on Sunday, the royal couple arrived in Sarajevo by train. In the front car was Fehim Čurčić, the Mayor of Sarajevo and Dr. Gerde, the city's Commissioner of Police. Franz Ferdinand and Sophie were in the second car with Oskar Potiorek and Count von Harrach. The car's top was rolled back in order to allow the crowds a good view of its occupants.

The seven members of the group lined the route. They were spaced out along the Appel Quay, each one with instructions to try to kill Franz Ferdinand when the royal car reached his position. The first conspirator on the route to see the royal car was Muhamed Mehmedbašić. Standing by the Austro-Hungarian Bank, Mehmedbašić lost his nerve and allowed the car pass without taking action. Mehmedbašić later said that a policeman was standing behind him and feared he would be arrested before he had a chance to throw his bomb.

At 10:15 A.M., when the six car procession passed the central police station, nineteen year old Nedeljko Čabrinović hurled a hand grenade at the archduke's car. The driver accelerated when he saw the object flying towards him and the bomb exploded under the wheel of the next car. Two of the occupants, Eric von Merizzi and Count Boos-Waldeck were seriously wounded. About a dozen spectators were also hit by bomb splinters.

After Čabrinović's bomb missed the Archduke's car, five other conspirators, including Princip, lost an opportunity to attack because of the heavy crowds and the high speed of the Archduke's car. To avoid capture, Čabrinović swallowed a cyanide pill and jumped into the nearby river, but was hauled out and detained by police.

Franz Ferdinand later decided to go to the hospital and visit the victims of Čabrinović's failed bombing attempt. In order to avoid the city centre, General Oskar Potiorek decided that the royal car should travel straight along the Appel Quay to the Sarajevo Hospital. However, Potiorek forgot to inform the driver, Franz Urban, about this decision. On the way to the hospital, Urban took a right turn into Gebet Street.

Princip had gone into Moritz Schiller's cafe for a sandwich, having apparently given up, when he spotted Franz Ferdinand's car as it drove past, having taken the wrong turn. After realizing the mistake, the driver put his foot on the brake, and began to back up. In doing so the engine of the car stalled and the gears locked, giving Princip his shot. Princip stepped forward, drew his pistol, and at a distance of about five feet, fired several times into the car. Franz Ferdinand was hit in the neck and Sophie in the abdomen. Sophie died instantly. Franz Ferdinand, who in disbelief of her death insisted that she wake up, fainted within five minutes and died soon after.

Capture and imprisonment

Princip tried to kill himself first by ingesting cyanide, and then with the use of his pistol. But he vomited the past-date poison (which Čabrinović had also done, leading the police to believe the group had been deceived and bought a much weaker poison). The pistol was wrested from his hand before he had a chance to fire another shot.

Having been too young at the time of the assassination (19, 1 month and 3 days short of turning 20) to face the death penalty, Princip received the maximum sentence of twenty years in prison, where he was held in harsh conditions worsened by the war. He died of tuberculosis on April 28 1918 at Theresienstadt. At the time of his death Princip weighed around 40 kilograms (88 pounds or 6 st 4 lb).

Other information

The pistol used by Princip was recently found and recovered in the home of the Italian Copei family, and is now in display at the Museum of Military History, Vienna, Austria. The second bullet fired by Princip, killing Franz Ferdinand, is stored as a museum exhibit in the Konopiště Castle near the town of Benešov, Czech Republic.

References

• Gavrilo Princip article at Schoolnet.co.uk
• Who's Who in World War I Gavrilo Princip at firstworldwar.com
• Wolfson/Laver: Years of Change, European History 1890-1990 Third Edition Hodder Murray (Page 117)