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Today marks the centenary of the assassination of the heir to the Austro-Hungarian empire and his wife, sparking the First World War and leading to the deaths of 14 million people.
Tensions among competing European powers were already simmering when the double assassination pushed the situation to a critical point. Austria, backed by Germany, declared war on Serbia a month later in response to the killings, and Serbia was supported by Russia and France.
Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie were visiting the city shortly after Bosnia became part of the Austro-Hungarian empire when they were targeted by a Yugoslav group seeking separation from Austria.
After a failed assassination attempt by a co-conspirator earlier on the day of 28 June, Bosnian Serb Gavrilo Princip fired the fatal shots into the royals’s open-air carriage. (As this 2011 Smithsonian article shows, the issue of whether or not Princip was grabbing a quick sandwich at a nearby cafe when he saw an unexpected opportunity to strike the archduke is still contended among historians.)
Nineteen-year-old Princip was quickly arrested for the killings, sentenced to a 20-year term, and died in custody from TB in April 1918.
In Sarajevo today, public opinion on the assassin’s actions remains divided along ethnic divisions.
“Gavrilo Princip will, just like the past 100 years, remain a hero for some and a terrorist to others,” said the head of the Sarajevo History Institute, Husnija Kamberovic told the AP. “It is a matter of feelings toward what he did, and not a matter of serious historical arguments.”
Christian Orthodox Serbs celebrate Princip as someone who saw Bosnia as part of the Serb national territory. The same idea inspired the Serbs in 1992 to fight the decision by Muslim Bosnians and Catholic Croats to declare the former republic of Bosnia independent when Serb-dominated Yugoslavia fell apart.
In Serb history books, the “great liberation act” of Princip and his comrades is described for over 20 pages.
“They were heroes who were ready to sacrifice their own lives for freedom and liberation,” said Jovan Medosevic, a primary school history teacher in the Bosnian Serb town of Pale, near Sarajevo.
That’s exactly what makes Princip unpopular among Muslim Bosnians and Catholic Croats. In their official textbooks, Princip is mentioned in just one sentence as a member of a secret terrorist organization who “did not assassinate Franz Ferdinand to liberate Bosnia from the occupier, but wanted Bosnia to become a part of Kingdom of Serbia,” high school student Ermin Lazovic said.
- Additional reporting by the AP
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Dense drivers ain’t gonna help either.
Heavy fog on way to work. Of the 100s of cars I saw only 2 had fog lights on. Talk about dense – in every sense of the word!
@Patrice Ahern: I Hope they turn them off when fog has lifted
@Philip Murphy: that’s the problem, some don’t. You regularly see some thickos have their front fog lights on 24/7, no matter the weather. Maybe they think it makes them look ‘brighter’ (I’ll get my coat) in
@Patrice Ahern: If you can see the cars ahead without the foglights, foglights are not needed. It’s really dense to use foglights on bumper to bumper traffic blinding everybody behind you where you can see the queue ahead anyway.
@Sami Hentunen: Correct, fog lights should be used like full headlights, turn them on and off as required but that won’t happen…
@Patrice Ahern: I’d hazard a guess they weren’t driving any slower than usual either.
Never mind the fog it’s an ice rink in Navan, move over ice man of 2010…. there is a new kid in town….me lol ouch
No fog here in West Cork and all Priority 1 and Priority 2 roads gritted. Well done to Cork Co. Co!!
@Sean O’Dhubhghaill: How did Cork Co Co get rid of the fog? Please let us know, don’t be keeping all the secrets in Cork
@Denis Conroy: Maybe they sold it on eBay?
My favourite part of the article was tonight is described as “very cold” by met eireann .. just had a vision of fr ted talking to dougal
I live in Dublin and there was no fog or frost this morning
@Gerry R: Good job you told us!
@Gerry R: the sea breeze rose the coastal temperature above freezing
This is the time they won’t turn on their fog lights.
Everyday is a fog day in my head.
Tipping minus 8 for last few nights in w cork. Just about made 2degrees for an hour and heading south again. The light showers today will make roads lethal by 8pm. For God’s sake stay at home and only travel for emergency. Your worth it.
I’m working from home tomorrow, thank god. I almost broke my neck on numerous occasions this morning.
@Gavin Gray: Slow down my man,there’s no need to go at break neck speed.
@Gavin Gray: Get ice grips at least, it’s lethal underfoot without them.
@F Fitzgerald: Hi FF,good to see ya again. Well,that broke the ice
You wouldn’t be long getting frost bit.
Coldplay. It was all yellow.
jaysus it’s called winter.. natin to do with klimaat change..
Children in Gaza sleeping in DIY tents. How cold is that? israel
@Barry Williams. Those sheep are cold, the one’s over there are far far colder.
@P. V. Aglue: It’s nice to have a happy ewe near
Snowing in my part of Wexford now… 0145
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