assassination of archduke Franz Ferdinand

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Assassination of Archduke Franz
The assassination to Archduke Franz refers to an occurrence more than 100 years ago, when a young Serbian nationalist succeeded in gunning down the Archduke Franz Ferdinand alongside Sophie, his wife. The incident took place as their motorcade was in the process of moving through the Sarajevo streets. Ferdinand happened to be the next in the line of the throne of the Austro-Hungarian. However, there was much dislike for him in the aristocratic circles; prompting the plans for his assassination. As the plans were underway for his murder, no one imagined the full extent of the impact. However, upon his quick death, there happened to series of events culminating to the sprout of the First World War.
Background
Despite many objections from his relatives, Ferdinand went ahead to marry Sophie, a girl with whom he was deeply in love. Sophie was from obscure Czech nobles. The expectation was that Ferdinand, as the next in the line for the throne would marry from a reigning dynasty of Europe or a former one, (Mombauer, 24). From the considerations of the background of the wife, the children of Ferdinand got a regard as not worthy of the inheritance of the throne, hence the plans to eliminate Franz. There was an utter disregard of Sophie as the wife of the commander, and she would receive petty slights as a result of her background which she could not change. For example, during imperial banquets, Sophie would enter the rooms as the last person and would usually not be in the accompaniment of any escort Most of the times, in such banquets; she would not sit anywhere near her husband.

Despite the much disapproval of the marriage, Ferdinand still came to be the heir of his father and happened to be the inspector general of the army. As a result of the disconnection of the choice, there was much hatred towards him and plans for his murder came to be hatched. There were feelings that Archduke Franz was the wrong person to inherit the leadership of the state. As the inspector general of the military, Ferdinand would do all the duties in the capacity. It was from the acting in that capacity that Ferdinand was attending series of maneuvers in Bosnia-Herzegovina in the month of June in 1914, (Newton, 27).
The annexing of the provinces had been a few years ago, and there had been antagonism from Serbia over the same for there was much coveting for the provinces, (Winder, 30). Ferdinand did not hold proper regards for the Serbs. In as far he was concerned, the Serbs were animals, murders, thieves and scoundrels. Despite his stance, Ferdinand opposed annexation because of the fear that the move would make the already turbulent political situation worse.
The planning
When the Bosnians learned of the imminent visit of Ferdinand, there were immediate plots for his assassination. There was a discrete revolutionary community mainly composed of peasant students who vowed to do anything to get rid of the current leadership, (Newton, 29). In May, some youths traveled to Belgrade, the Serbian capital. There, they met with the members of a group called Black Hand who gave them hand-held bombs, semiautomatic pistols as well as cyanide suicide capsules. The Black Hand was the name for a terrorist group operating in Serbia, and which had close ties with the Serbian army.
At the time, it was hard to cross the borders with the kinds of weapons that the youths were carrying. However, there was much reception of assistance from the Black Hand terrorist group in smuggling the weapons across the border. The help from the Black Hand would not have been easy were it not for the close connection of the terror group with the army. The question of whether the Serbian government had a hand in the organization of the assassination is unclear. The murder would have been difficult without the state involvement, (Winder, 28). On the other hand, there has not been substantial evidence pointing out to its participation; hence the matter remains a controversy.
The journey to Bosnia-Herzegovina
On June, 23rd 1904, Ferdinand and Sophie embarked on their journey to Bosnia-Herzegovina, (Butcher, 4). Before the onset of the trip, there had been various warnings to the Duke not to set out for the voyage for there had been sensing of danger. The Duke was, therefore, aware that there were some dangers ahead of them, but he did not expect it to be of a fatal magnitude and that is why he kept on with the plans of going on with the trip. Besides the multiple warnings, the Duke also happened to sense a danger from the observation of things, (Mombauer, 26). For example, upon the realizations that the axles of his car were overheating, he commented something to the effect that the journey was promising to be an omen. He said that the car would burn and there would be hurling of bombs to them. It was never clear whether the Duke was pointing out at those aspects with full knowledge of them or whether it was the sense usually associated with a bad omen for some people.
They arrived at a spa town, some distance from the capital of Bosnia-Herzegovina, Sarajevo whereby; Ferdinand attended military exercises for two days. Sophie on her part visited schools as well as orphanages. They also attended banquets with political and religious leaders. There remained only one day of events before Franz Ferdinand and his wife embarking on the journey back home.
The assassination
At Sarajevo, the couple boarded an open topped car after a train ride where Sophie was allowed to stay close to her husband for the first time. There also seemed to be security gaps here and there such as the availability of only three security officers instead of the usual six. There happened the first attempt by a young man to assassinate the Duke by throwing a bomb at the cars, (Butcher, 4).There were injuries to security officers, but the Duke and Sophie were safe. The Duke did not opt to go back with immediate effect following the attempt. The Duke planned to go and see the wounded officers in the hospital before embarking on his journey home. As the cars made way through the routes they thought were safe from the assassins, they ran to the place where Princip, one of the assassin youth was standing, ready with a pistol.
Princip took out his gun and pointed it to the motorcade as there were desperate attempts to reverse. He pierced the Duke on the neck while Sophie’s got a severe injury in the stomach. The couple died within minutes. Princip, a young army-reject of the Serbian government, admitted intentionally killing the Duke but mentioned that he did not have the intentions of killing Sophie. Since he had not yet attained maturity age, he Princip could not get the life sentence; therefore, he got a jail term of 20 years, but sooner than later contracted tuberculosis and died.
Impact
The crucial impact of the assassination was the sprouting of the WW1. Austria-Hungary placed the blame of the assassination to the Serbian government. There was every intention to use the incidence as a justification to settling the issue of Slav nationalism, (Mombauer, 26). There came to be supporting states on each side of the conflict whereby; Russia supported Serbia alongside other allays such as France and Britain. Austria Hungary got the support of German and the war got ignition
Works Cited
Butcher, Tim. “Sarajevo’s Elusive Assassin.” History Today 64.7 (2014): 3-4. Academic Search Premier. Web. 14 Dec. 2016.
Mombauer, Annika. “The July Crisis.” History Today 64.7 (2014): 21-27. Academic Search Premier. Web. 14 Dec. 2016.
Newton, Michael. “The Assassin’s Creed.” New Statesman 141.5131 (2012): 26-30. Business Source Complete. Web. 14 Dec. 2016.
Winder, Simon. “Who Was Franz Ferdinand? (Cover Story).” New Statesman 143.5216 (2014): 26-32. Business Source Complete. Web. 14 Dec. 2016.