Gavrilo Princip
Gavrilo Princip was a Serbian nationalist born in Bosnia in 1894, during a period when the region was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. He grew up in a large family and was an excellent student, though his education was cut short due to his expulsion for joining the nationalist group Mlada Bosna, which sought to unify South Slavs against Austro-Hungarian rule. Princip is most famously known for assassinating Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife in 1914, an act that is widely considered a catalyst for the outbreak of World War I. After his arrest, he was tried as a minor, receiving a 20-year prison sentence, during which he suffered from tuberculosis and ultimately lost his arm before dying in 1918.
The assassination had profound implications, contributing to the chain of events that led to the war and the eventual dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Princip remains a controversial figure; some view him as a martyr for Serbian nationalism, while others see him as a trigger for catastrophic global conflict. His actions have inspired ongoing discussions about the complexities of nationalism, the motivations behind the war, and the historical context of the Balkans. In Sarajevo, memorials commemorate his act, highlighting the enduring legacy of Princip and the intricate history of the region.
Subject Terms
Gavrilo Princip
Bosnian Serb nationalist terrorist
- Born: July 25, 1894
- Birthplace: Obljaj, Bosnia, Austro-Hungarian Empire
- Died: April 28, 1918
- Place of death: Theresienstadt Prison, Austria
Major offenses: Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife, Countess Sophie von Chotkovato
Active: June 28, 1914
Locale: Sarajevo, Bosnia
Sentence: Twenty years’ imprisonment
Early Life
Gavrilo Princip (GAHV-ri-loh PREHN-tseep), a Serbian national, was born in Bosnia, which was under the rule of the Austro-Hungarian Empire although still de jure part of the Ottoman Empire. He was one of nine children born to Petar and Maria Nana Mičič. As a child Gavrilo contracted tuberculosis, which would eventually lead to his death. He attended school at Grahovo, the local center. An excellent student, he went to the Bosnian capital, Sarajevo, to pursue studies at the military academy but changed to the merchant’s school. Princip also enjoyed medieval Serbian history and its romantic folklore.
Criminal and Political Career
In 1908, Austria-Hungary formally annexed Bosnia. Serbs in both Bosnia and the neighboring kingdom of Serbia reacted furiously, believing that the annexation thwarted their goal for union. Princip joined the illegal Serbian nationalist organization Mlada Bosna (Young Bosnia), and the school authorities expelled him from school. Mlada Bosna forged a secret alliance with the Serbian group in Belgrade known as Unification or Death (Ujedinjenje ili Smrt), popularly called the Black Hand. Serbia was fresh from victories in the Balkan Wars; the press openly proclaimed that the next conquests would be in Bosnia against Vienna. Unification or Death supplied Young Bosnia with money and weapons to commit terrorist acts against the Austrians.
The plan that Young Bosnia hatched was the assassination of the Austrian archduke Franz Ferdinand, whose children were in line for the throne. Franz Ferdinand was a particularly ideal and opportune target. He appeared to favor the Triune program, which would give Slavs equal rights in the empire, making the union of Bosnia and Serbia even more difficult. Furthermore, the archduke and his wife, Sophia, were planning a goodwill tour of Sarajevo for June 28, 1914. This was a double insult, as June 28 was the reputed date of the legendary Battle of Kosovo Field in 1389—a major event in Serbian folk mythology.
Because the route of the procession was well publicized, the assassins knew exactly where to station themselves. The archduke was to travel up Appel Quay, along the river to the city hall, for a ceremony. Assassins with bombs and guns were ready along the route. An assassin threw a bomb at the archduke’s car, but the driver avoided it, and it damaged the following car, injuring some of the riders. After the ceremony the archduke insisted on going to the hospital to see the injured. When the driver erroneously began to turn off Appel Quay, he was told to go straight. As the driver was backing up, Princip, who had lost his nerve after the failure of the first attempt but was now precisely at that corner, seized the opportunity. He jumped on the running board of the archduke’s car and fired several shots into Franz Ferdinand and his pregnant wife, fatally wounding them both. The police quickly grabbed Princip and hustled him off to jail.
Legal Action and Outcome
Princip was tried and, because he was a minor, he was sentenced to twenty years in prison at Theresienstadt, the maximum sentence permitted under Austrian law. While there, he lost his arm to tuberculosis and later died in 1918.
Impact
The consequences of Gavrilo Princip’s act were the events of the following five weeks, which led to the outbreak of World War I. While Princip is remembered as the perpetrator of one of the key turning points of world history, it is doubtful that the failure of the assassination attempt would have prevented war among the great powers. The war’s underlying causes most likely would have brought about the conflagration sooner or later. However, as the igniting event, the assassination has been the topic of much discussion.
Why was the route so publicized when the anti-Austrian propaganda and activity of Serbia and the Serbs was so prevalent? Was the driver of the archduke’s car complicit in the plot? Were some officials in the Austro-Hungarian Empire willing to sacrifice the heir to the throne for an excuse to go to war against Serbia? What was Germany’s role in the events? Did it push Vienna to make harsh demands on Belgrade in order to bring about a war that Germany believed would be short and victorious, or give Vienna a “blank check,” simply stating that it would back up any decision the Austrians made? Did Serbia refuse to give in to Austrian demands because it knew Russia and France would stand behind it?
In any case, the assassination brought about the war, which indeed ended the Austro-Hungarian Empire and created an enlarged Serbia—Yugoslavia, including Bosnia.
A museum dedicated to Mlada Bosna was opened on the corner where the assassination took place, and Princip’s footprints were carved in the sidewalk in front to memorialize the assassin. In 1991 Bosnia, which was established as an autonomous republic within Yugoslavia, declared its independence, and a bloody civil war among the Serbs, Croats, and Bosnians erupted. According to the 1995 Dayton Accords, the republic was divided among the three ethnic groups. A group of Serbian nationalists opposed to the accords formed a secret organization called Gavrilo Princip, which threatened Serbian officials in the republic.
Bibliography
Cassels, Lavender. The Archduke and the Assassin: The Road to Sarajevo. New York: Stein and Day, 1985. A standard academic monograph which covers the life of Princip and the events of June 28, 1914. Extensive bibliography.
Dolph Owings, W. A., ed. The Sarajevo Trial. Chapel Hill, N.C.: Documentary, 1984. A collection of documents about Princip’s trial, including an account by the assassin himself. Notes by the editor.
Fromkin, David. Europe’s Last Summer: Who Started the Great War in 1914? New York: Knopf, 2004. This account of the origins of World War I challenges the view that it was an unfortunate series of accidents and lays the blame on the intentions of Berlin.
Ross, Stewart. Assassination in Sarajevo: The Trigger for World War I. Chicago: Heinemann Library, 2001. Designed for middle-school students, this book explains the events of June 28, 1914, with maps and illustrations, detailing how the assassination led to World War I.