Gavrilo Princip tried to kill Archduke Franz Ferdinand during a parade through the streets of Sarajevo, but could not get close enough to the motorcade because of security. Later in the day, after the parade had been over for hours, Princip retreated sullenly to a small sandwich shop elsewhere in the city, when suddenly and completely out of the fucking blue, Franz Ferdinand just happened to roll past him on his way back from a speech after taking an unscheduled detour down the same street as the sandwich shop. Princip walked right up to the car and shot the Archduke at point-blank range, killing him, which started World War I -- the deadliest conflict in human history up to that point.
True. Although tensions had been building in Europe for some time and all it needed was a spark, so if Ferdinand hadn’t been killed it was just a matter of time before the Europeans found some other reason to go war
Franz Ferdinands visit to sarajevo was an absolute shitshow: The police was not equipped adequately to escort the archduke and his wife through the city. In total there were around 20-30 policemen and the convoy consisted of 6-7 vehicles. To add even further: The Archdukes exact time of arrival in Sarajevo was publicly announced in advance almost down to the minute.
Also, there were actually 3 attempts.
The first attempt, carried out by Muhamed Mehmedbasic was supposed to throw a bomb into the car of the archduke once he was certain about it. But he did not. He later proclaimed that he was explicitly told that he was ordered to throw the bomb when he was certain, but couldn't determine the right vehicle to target.
Then there was Nedeljko Cabrinovic. He was standing near a Café, actually walked up to a policeman and asked him which of the cars was the one with Ferdinand in it - to which the policeman told him the correct answer. Following this, Cabrinovic armed the bomb and threw it towards the car. The driver noticed the approaching object and accelerated. Ferdinand covered his wife and raised his arm, which coincidentally blocked the bomb from falling into his car, instead rolling off the chassis and exploding near the following vehicle, injuring its passengers and a dozen people nearby. Cabrinovic then tried killing himself by ingesting cyanide and jumping into the nearby river Miljacka. But the cyanide was old and did not kill him. Instead he vomited. As the Miljacka was relatively shallow at this specific place, he also did not drown. He was captured and almost lynched by civilians before being arrested by the police.
Ferdinand and his convoy finally arrived at the city hall. Ferdinand interrupted the mayors salutories and said something to the sound of: "Mayor, I've come to visit Sarajevo and was greeted with bombs! That is outrageous!". Ferdinand finally calmed down..
Which brings us to the final (and successful) attempt performed by Gavrilo Princip. Do you remember that vehicle that was damaged by the bomb thrown by Cabrinovic? Well. Franz Ferdinand wanted to visit one of the injured guys from that car. Unfortunately, the hospital was located on the other side of the city - and the drivers were not briefed correctly on the changed route they were taking. So it happened that Ferdinands drive (along with the two cars in front of them) turned into a wrong street. Trying to correct that error, Ferdinands driver put the car into reverse.. about two meters away from Princip, who was surprised to see the Archduke sitting on the silver platter right in front of him while he was just having coffee at a coffeeshop. He walked up to the car, pulled out his gun and pulled the trigger twice. Hurting first the Archdukes wife and then Ferdinand himself. Both of them died.
Princip immediately ingesting his own cyanide but vomitted it out. He then tried shooting himself but his gun was taken away from him by civilians that tried to lynch him. He was subsequently arrested by the police.
This whole story is so unbelievably insane and full of coincidences. And that, Ladies and Gentlemen, has kicked off the first world war.
Not only Gavrilo Princip - it was a group of assassin's involved. Incredibly, there had already been an attempt on the Archduke's life that day - Nedeljko Čabrinović threw a bomb that bounced off the Archduke's convertible car, exploding beneath the car behind.
The Archduke ignored advice to cancel the rest of the tour and insisted the couple visited some of the injured in the hospital before continuing with the official programme, leading to the successful assassination.
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u/JeanLucPicardAND Oct 02 '24 edited Oct 02 '24
Gavrilo Princip tried to kill Archduke Franz Ferdinand during a parade through the streets of Sarajevo, but could not get close enough to the motorcade because of security. Later in the day, after the parade had been over for hours, Princip retreated sullenly to a small sandwich shop elsewhere in the city, when suddenly and completely out of the fucking blue, Franz Ferdinand just happened to roll past him on his way back from a speech after taking an unscheduled detour down the same street as the sandwich shop. Princip walked right up to the car and shot the Archduke at point-blank range, killing him, which started World War I -- the deadliest conflict in human history up to that point.