In Serbia, this man became a national hero. The principle of Gavrilo left a mark in history as the man who killed the heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the ex-Duke Ferdinand and his wife Sophia. These deaths marked the beginning of the First World War. There are many white spots in the biography of the Principle today.
Childhood and youth
The biography of the future national hero of Serbia is still poorly understood. Thanks to researcher Tim Butcher, the world learned some facts from the childhood and youth of this Bosnian idealist.
The Principle of Gavrilo was born in the village of Oblyaye on July 25, 1894. Only Bosnian Serbs lived in the village . The boy’s father Petar was a newspaperman. He married Maria, a poor girl from a neighboring village, the family settled in Oblya in a one-room house. The couple had 9 children, but only three boys survived. Gavrilo was average.
In childhood, the child showed a talent for reading and learning languages. In general, the Gavrilo Principle was a capable and gifted child, he was drawn to knowledge, despite his peasant origin.
In 1907, parents sent their son to study in the capital. Life was in full swing in Sarajevo. The country boy stood out among his peers with a sharp mind. It is not surprising that he, along with his friends, already at the age of 13, bears plans for the liberation of Bosnia from the Austro-Hungarian invaders.
At the end of 1911, the Gavrilo Principle went to Serbia, where he then visited from time to time. Thanks to his ideas and mind, the young revolutionary managed to rally young Bosnians who were ready to fight for their rights and liberation from Austria-Hungary.
Organization "Mlada Bosna"
In 1878, the Ottoman Empire at the Berlin Congress officially abandoned the Balkan lands. But the long-awaited release did not follow. In its place came Austria-Hungary. The new colonizer began to plunder the rich Serbian lands and oppress the local population. The Habsburg Empire tried to completely eradicate the South Slavic identity by masking such actions with the advent of the "enlightened" West. This was expressed in the prohibition of the native language and literature and education in general.
The ideologist of the organization "Mlada Bosna" was a writer and poet Vladimir Gachinovich. The organization was founded in 1912. It ceased to exist in two years. By and large, the organization consisted of small groups of revolutionary-minded gymnasium students from Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Each cell had its own secret society goals. But they all united in their desire to free themselves from the control of Austria-Hungary and the unification of the South Slavic peoples. Some revolutionaries dreamed of reunification under the auspices of Serbia, others dreamed of a union of republics. But they all dreamed of a fair, enlightened society, of national identity. In general, everyone had their own goals. Many postulates of the secret organization were devoted exclusively to education and literature.
Political Views of the Principle
The principle of Gavrilo was one of such gymnasium students. Honest, brave, enlightened, but not a chauvinist. He dreamed of overthrowing Austro-Hungarian oppression. Inspired by the speeches and leaflets of Gachinovich, he, like his associates, was convinced that he had the right to kill for a good universal purpose.
Gavrilo was a radical revolutionary, identified himself with the Bosnian people. He was ready to give his life for his ideals. Together with his friends, he developed a plan to kill a prominent Austro-Hungarian person. This act was supposed to stir up the Bosnians and make them fight. By coincidence, the target of the terrorists was the heir Ferdinand, who was not the worst representative of his dynasty. The future emperor was a liberal, and even before entering into his rights, he hatched plans for reforming his empire.
World on the eve of World War I
It cannot be argued that only the events and the bloody history of 1914 became the main cause of the first world conflict. Europe has long stood on the brink of war. Many European countries (including Russia) had their territorial claims to the German and Austro-Hungarian empires. Germany also dreamed of world domination and wanted to redraw the world map.
The assassination of Ferdinand in 1914 was only a signal to the outbreak of hostilities.
Killing of sarajevo
The plan was developed as soon as information appeared in the press about the arrival of the ex-duke.
On June 28, 1914, Franz Ferdinand, along with his wife Sophie, arrived at the military exercises. He was invited by General Oscar Potiorek. The royal couple arrived in Sarajevo by train in the morning. At the beginning of the eleventh morning, the motorcade moved along the streets of the city. Nedelko Chebrinovich, one of six terrorists, threw a bomb at the moment when the cars passed the police station. By fate, the heir to the throne survived. He tried to commit suicide for a week, but he could not do this, an angry mob beat him and handed him over to the authorities.
The terrorist Princip, meanwhile, decided not to force events and continued to remain in the square. Speaking at the town hall, Ferdinand decided to go visit the wounded as a result of the assassination attempt. The route of the motorcade was changed, but the driver of the car of the ex-duke was not warned about this. When Franz Urban, the driver of the royal car, learned about the change of route, he began to slowly turn around the car. Then the Principle noticed them. He ran in the car and fired several shots, injuring the ex-duke and his wife. A few hours later they died.
The principle tried to poison itself with an ampoule of potassium cyanide, but this attempt was unsuccessful. They also failed to shoot, a crowd of onlookers beat him and took away a revolver.
All six conspirators were arrested, three of them were sick with tuberculosis. Gavrilo Princip died in prison in April 1918.
Consequences of the murder of Ferdinand
Thus, the year 1914 and the events that occurred on a summer morning in Sarajevo, served as the occasion for the outbreak of the First World War. A few weeks later, the Government of Austria-Hungary presented an ultimatum to Serbia, to which the government of this state agreed. An exception was the paragraph on the involvement of Austrian representatives in the investigation of the attempt. Austria-Hungary accused Serbia of concealing the death of the heir to the throne and declared war on it.