On June 28, Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg, were assassinated by Gavrilo Princip, nineteen years old Serbian nationalist, during their visit to Sarajevo, Bosnia, where Archduke was inspecting imperial armed forces. According to the latest information, terrorist organization Black Hand is responsible for the murder. Awaiting along the course of motorcade, while Franz Ferdinand was travelling in an open cab with his wife and Oskar Potiorek, Governor of Bosnia and Herzegovina, a group of seven Serbian nationalists tried to kill him twice. First Nedeljko Čabrinović attempted on Franz Ferdinand’s life with a grenade, but failed, killing driver of the third car and wounding twenty people in total. Čabrinović swallowed his cyanide pill and tried to hide by jumping into Miljacka River. However, being unprepared he did not know that Miljacka River was only 13 cm deep, causing him to break his leg, and cyanide only caused vomiting. Nedeljko Čabrinović was caught immediately. Other terrorists, including the successful assassin, Gavrilo Princip, failed to act. After being almost killed by a bomb, the Archduke and his wife continued to the City Hall, where he gave a speech. Later, Franz Ferdinand decided to visit the people who suffered from the bombing. The Archduke’s wife, Sophie, and Governor Potiorek insisted to come with him to the hospital. To be safe, they decided to take different route. However, the driver did not know about their plans. As a result, their cab passed closely to the place where one of the assassins, Gavrilo Princip, was still loitering. In order to turn the car driver stopped. Meanwhile, the young Serbian nationalist took an advantage of unexpected opportunity to complete the assassination. Gavrilo Princip fired twice, shooting Franz Ferdinand and his wife. Both of them died within an hour on their way to Governor’s residence.
By Anna Melnikova
United States Today 