Assassination of Franz Ferdinand by Gavrilo Princip

We're now ready
to talk about one

of the most famous events
in all of world history

that really was the
trigger for World War I,

or the Great War, as it
was called back then.

So just as a little
bit of backdrop,

in 1908, the Austro-Hungarian
Empire formally

annexes Bosnia and Herzegovina.

It had already been occupying
it since the late 1800s,

since the Ottomans
were being pushed out.

But then in 1908, it
formally annexes it.

And just as a little
bit more backdrop,

as the Ottomans were being
pushed out of the Balkans,

it helped rekindle or
bring about more hope

of unifying the Yugoslavic
people, the southern Slavic

people.

When people talk about
Yugoslav, they're

literally talking about
the southern Slavs.

So that literally
means southern.

So you had these
nationalistic hopes.

But now in 1908, it was
already being occupied.

A significant
state, that would be

part of a potential
future Yugoslav,

was now formally annexed
by the Austro-Hungarians.

Now, you also had an independent
kingdom of Serbia right here.

And you can imagine
that this was the home

base of the
nationalistic movement.

If only they could add the other
southern Slavic states to this,

it could one day turn
into a greater Yugoslavia.

So in that context,
we get to 1914.

So let me draw a
little line here.

So we're getting to 1914.

June 28, which is one of
the most famous dates in all

of history.

And you have the Archduke Franz
Ferdinand and his wife, Sophie.

They're visiting Sarajevo
which is now in annexed Bosnia.

And when they are
there, there is a ploy.

There is a scheme
to assassinate them,

from a group-- they're
called the Young Bosnians.

They have ties to
the Black Hand,

which is this
nationalistic group.

That has ties, many,
many people say--

all these things are all very
shady and behind the back,

behind the scenes.

But it has ties to elements
in the kingdom of Serbia.

They attempt to assassinate
Archduke Franz Ferdinand.

And it's actually
a fascinating story

because the initial
assassination attempt

is completely,
completely botched.

There's even one case of
a guy, one of the guys

who tried to be an assassin
when it gets botched,

he tries to bite on
a cyanide capsule

and then jump into a river.

The cyanide capsule
had gone bad.

The river was only
10 inches deep.

And so they were able to
get their hands on him.

And one of the conspirators,
Gavrilo Princip--

at this point, once the
whole thing was botched,

he gives up on the whole
assassination attempt.

And he's having, literally, a
sandwich at a cafe in Sarajevo,

thinking about how botched
their whole attempt was.

And while that was
happening, a mistake

on the part of those planning
Archduke Franz Ferdinand's

route as he was
traveling within Sarajevo

has them driving right
near Gavrilo Princip.

So he sees, all of a
sudden, that they've

taken the wrong route, that
they're driving right by him

again.

Remember, his
people already knew

that there was an
assassination attempt on him

earlier in the day.

So they should have
been more careful.

Now, Gavrilo Princip gets
up, puts his sandwich down,

and starts walking over to
where he sees Archduke Franz

Ferdinand and
Sophie's car going.

Now, the drivers,
once they realized

that they had made
a mistake, they

had taken a less safe route.

They tried to back up, which
makes things even worse

because then the
car starts stalling.

And Gavrilo Princip
literally walks up to the car

and is able to shoot Archduke
Franz Ferdinand and Sophie.

And just to give you a sense
of how important this is,

Archduke Franz Ferdinand
of Austria is the heir.

He's the nephew of
Franz Josef, who

was the ruler of
Austria-Hungary.

And so he is the
heir to the empire.

And so he gets assassinated
by Gavrilo Princip.

So Franz Ferdinand assassinated
by Gavrilo Princip.

And we have right over
here a picture right

after Gavrilo
Princip-- I believe

this is Gavrilo Princip
right over here,

right after he was arrested.

And just to get a
little sense of how

this was tied to this
whole Yugoslavian

nationalistic movement.

This is what he said
once he was arrested.

"I am a Yugoslav
nationalist, aiming

for the unification
of all Yugoslavs,

and I do not care
what form of state,

but it must be free of Austria."

So this act, this
assassination motivated

by a nationalistic movement,
motivated by a desire

to maybe merge Bosnia and
Herzegovina with Serbia

and maybe eventually
Croatia, with Bosnia

and Herzegovina and Serbia.

This assassination, as
we'll see in the next video,

is the trigger for
all of World War I.

And the reason why it triggers
it is because, well, there's

many things you can cite.

You could argue that many
of the empires in Europe

were already
militarizing, already

had a desire for conflict.

But then you also had all
of these alliances that

essentially allowed the dominoes
to fall in all of Europe.

And because they had these
empires, essentially much

of the world to be at
war with each other.