Franz Ferdinand Assasination

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Jawad Ali                9B

Archduke Franz Ferdinand essay

Archduke Franz Ferdinand was the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne. He was visiting Sarajevo, a town in Bosnia, to inspect the army. The Black Hand was a nationalist terrorist group who wanted to free the Slav peoples in Bosnia and Montenegro, a part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The Black Hand wanted to carry out an act that they thought would make a difference to the future of Slav peoples. This act was to assassinate the Archduke.

On the 28th of June 1914, the archduke and his wife went through the streets of Sarajevo in open topped car along a route, which was, published everywhere along the city. A bomb was thrown from the crowd and blew up just in front of the car the Archduke and his wife were travelling in. The car rushed to the town hall where the route was changed. However, the driver was not informed and turned the wrong way but when the driver slowed the car down, the breaks got jammed and the car stalled. Gavrillo Princip, who thought the Archduke was already dead from the previous attack, saw the car stop and took his gun out. He fired a few shots at the couple and had hit the pregnant Archduchess in the stomach and the Archduke in the neck.

This essay will go through each of the main theories reasoning his murder. The theories are:

  • Bad planning by the police – poor security
  • Archduke Franz Feredinands Fault
  • A well planned plot by the trained assassins
  • Chance, luck or fate
  • The wrong man was killed

Bad Planning and Organisation by the Police

There are many reosons to prove that there was bad planning by the police. Firstly, the authorities had allowed the Archduke and his Duchess to travel in an opened topped car. This allowed any assasins from the black hand to shoot at them. Also the major mistake the police did was, that they published the route of the Archduke and his wife. This would have helped the assasins from The Black Hand to plan out their assasination very well. The police could have kept the crowd away from the car because someone could have easily shot at the Archduke or throw a bomb. Another reason is that the authorities did not stop the tour after the first assasination attemp on the Archduke and his wife. When the bomb was thrown from the crowd the authorities should have stopped the couple from going further. Also the police did not allow the army to come in to the town and clean up the place before resuming the tour saying ‘it would be an offence to the duke if the army did not have their uniform on’. Finally, thedriver was not informed of the route change which was the most fatal error towards his assassination.

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There are also many reosons to disaprove this theory. Firstly everyone entering the city one week before the event  was checked to see if they had a weapon. Secondly, after the first assassination attempt, the authorities changed the route to try and

Limit the chance of the assassins succeeding to their aim. Finally, the authorities had arrested four of the five assassins before they

Had escaped and had immediately caught Gavrillo Princip. He was the man who shot the Archduke and his wife. This was proven because in Gavrillo Princips trial he said,

‘I fired twice at Ferdinand from ...

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