On June 28, 1914, Gavrilo Princip killed in Sarajevo the heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, Franz Ferdinand and his wife.
Princip's goal is the liberation of Bosnia from the domination of the Austrian emperor and the creation of an independent Yugoslav state.
Assassination is the means to that end.
19-year-old student Gavrilo Princip is a Bosnian Serb. He is a member of the "Young Bosnia" organization, which wants unification with Serbia. The Archduke's driver confuses the road, stops and causes a traffic jam. Gavrilo Princip is among the onlookers. He shot Franz Ferdinand with two shots.
During the interrogation, the young man stated that the assassination was not ordered by Belgrade, but was an independent action. The man who pulled the trigger on World War I died of tuberculosis in prison in 1918. His death comes 8 months before the end of the large-scale conflict that claimed the lives of 10 million people.
After the attack, the Austro-Hungarian Council of Ministers made the decision to issue an unacceptable ultimatum to Serbia, after which military force would be used if it was rejected. The war began only 37 days later, and the German Kaiser Wilhelm II promised Vienna military support in the event of an attack on Serbia.
Just a few days later, Russia, France and Great Britain joined the war. "The great powers weighed the risks and potential benefits and ultimately decided in favor of war," says historian Christopher Clark. Therefore, in most cases, the Sarajevo bombing is defined as the spark that started the world conflagration, and not as the cause of the First World War.
Princip's native house in Oblay was destroyed.
The murder weapon is the Browning M1910/12 self-loading pistol with a caliber of 7.65 mm.
It was created by the famous constructor John Moses Browning. Its serial production began in 1910 at the Belgian company Fabrique Nationale D’armes de Guerre Herstal, armymedia.bg recalls.
It was intended for self-defense and for the needs of the police. It is flat, convenient for concealed carry and is quickly removed from under clothing and from holsters.
A characteristic feature of its construction is the presence of the so-called A “muscle guard” which prevents a shot from being fired before the grip is gripped and pressed firmly with the palm.
This feature is pointed out by some researchers as one of the reasons why the assassin could not have killed himself with the gun after the fatal shots, but resorted to poison.
Gavrilo Princip was only 17 years old and his weapons skills were not at a high level.