In Serbia, this man became a national hero. Gavrilo's principle left a mark in history as the man who killed the heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, ex-Duke Ferdinand and his wife Sophia. These deaths marked the beginning of the First World War. There are many gaps in Princip's biography even today.
Childhood and youth
The biography of the future national hero of Serbia is still little studied today. Thanks to researcher Tim Butcher, the world has learned some facts from the childhood and youth of this Bosnian idealist.
Gavrilo Princip was born in the village of Oblyay on July 25, 1894. The village was inhabited exclusively by Bosnian Serbs. The boy's father, Petar, was a paperboy. He married Maria, a poor girl from a neighboring village, the family settled in Oblyai 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, Princip Gavrilo was a capable and gifted child, he was drawn to knowledge, despite his peasant origin.
In 1907, the parents sent their son to study in the capital. Seething in Sarajevoa life. The village boy stood out among his peers with a sharp mind. It is not surprising that he, together with his friends, already at the age of 13, was hatching plans to liberate Bosnia from the Austro-Hungarian invaders.
At the end of 1911, Princip Gavrilo went to Serbia, where he later visited periodically. Thanks to his ideas and mind, the young revolutionary managed to rally young Bosnians around him, 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. Austria-Hungary took its place. 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, masking such actions with the arrival of the "enlightened" West. This was expressed in the prohibition of the original language and literature and education in general.
The ideologist of the organization "Mlada Bosna" was a writer and singer Vladimir Gachinovich. The organization was founded in 1912. It ceased to exist after two years. By and large, the organization consisted of small groups of revolutionary high school students from Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The objectives of the secret society each cell had its own. But they were all united by the desire to free themselves from the control of Austria-Hungary and the unification of the South Slavic peoples. Some revolutionaries dreamed of reunification under Serbian auspices, othersdreamed of a union of republics. But they all dreamed of a just, enlightened society, of a national identity. In general, everyone had their own goals. Many tenets of the secret organization were devoted exclusively to education and literature.
Principle's political views
Principal Gavrilo was one of those high school students. Honest, brave, enlightened, but not a chauvinist. He dreamed of overthrowing the Austro-Hungarian oppression. Inspired by Gacinovic's speeches and leaflets, he, like his associates, was convinced that he had the right to kill for a good common cause.
Gavrilo was a radical revolutionary who 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 assassinate a prominent Austro-Hungarian person. This act was supposed to stir up the Bosnians and force them to 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 coming into his own, hatched plans to reform his empire.
The world on the eve of World War I
It cannot be argued that only the events and bloody history of 1914 became the main cause of the first world conflict. Europe has long been on the brink of war. Many European countries (including Russia) had their own 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 just the signal for the start of hostilities.
Sarajevo Murder
The plan was developed as soon as the news of the arrival of the ex-duke appeared in the press.
June 28, 1914, Franz Ferdinand, together with his wife Sophie, arrived at a review of military exercises. He was invited by General Oskar Potiorek. The royal couple arrived in Sarajevo in the morning by train. At the beginning of the eleventh morning, the cortege moved through the streets of the city. Nedeljko Chebrinovich, one of the six terrorists, dropped the bomb just as the cars passed the police station. By the will of fate, the heir to the throne remained alive. For a week he tried to commit suicide, but he failed to do this, an angry mob beat him and handed him over to the authorities.
Terrorist Princip, meanwhile, decided not to force things and continued to stay on the square. Speaking at the town hall, Ferdinand decided to go to visit the wounded as a result of the assassination attempt. The route of the cortege was changed, but the driver of the ex-duke's car was not warned about this. When Franz Urban, the driver of the royal car, found out about the change in route, he began to slowly turn the car around. Here they were spotted by the Principle. He ran up in a car and fired several shots, wounding the ex-duke and his wife. They died a few hours later.
Princip tried to poison himself with an ampoule of potassium cyanide, but this attempt was unsuccessful. He also failed to shoot himself, a crowd of onlookers beat him up and took away his revolver.
All six conspirators were arrested, three of them were sicktuberculosis. Gavrilo Princip died in prison in April 1918.
Consequences of Ferdinand's assassination
Thus, the year 1914 and the events that took place on a summer morning in Sarajevo served as a pretext 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. The exception was the clause on the involvement of Austrian representatives in the investigation of the assassination attempt. Austria-Hungary accused Serbia of concealing the facts of the death of the heir to the throne and declared war on Serbia.
