The Death of Archduke Franz Ferdinand

dot com. All of this is in the episode description, and you can pick up a copy of my book Anatomy, A Love Story. But as always, just the best possible support for the show is you listening, so thank you so much. The morning of June nine teen, fourteen, began with golden light spilling over Sarajevo. It was a perfect

day in a summer full of perfect days. In later years, reflecting on the bloodshed that was to come, observers would remark on how beautiful the summer had been, the way the world had seemed to hum in harmony, the way the sun had shown on Europe. No one in the crowds gathered along the appel Qua, a broad street running along the mill Jack River in central Sarajevo. Knew quite how precious this day would be, the beginnings and endings that it would mark for both the Archduke Franz Ferdinand

and for his assassin. June held special significance. For Franz Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria est and heir to the throne of Austria Hungary. It was the anniversary of the day he had taken the oath of Renunciation, the bitter compromise that had allowed out him to marry his beloved wife, but at the cost of renouncing the rights of his children

to inherit his titles. Fourteen years on from that day, it was still a painful reminder of the strictures of tradition that bound Franz Ferdinand to a dying system of governance. For his assassin, Gavrilo princip it was St. Vitus's Day, a day of remembrance and resistance. On June thirteen eighty nine, the Serbs had been defeated by the Ottomans at the Battle of Kosovo Polier, an event that dashed their dreams of an independent Serbia. And ushered in five centuries of

Ottoman rule. But Kosovo Polier was also the site of an important victory, the killing of the Ottoman Sultan Murad the First by the Serbian night Milos or Blick. Five hundred years later, Serbs celebrated Obelik's feet on the feast day of St. Vitus, honoring the sacrifices of general rations of forebearers in the quest for an independent Serbia. This June, the two men had arrived in the same city, each for a reason that echoed the meaning of the day

in his own mind. Franz Ferdinand was there an official royal business, making a royal progress through the capital of the recently annexed territory of Bosnia Herzegovina. He hadn't wanted to make the trip, he had opposed the annexation, but he felt duty bound to Gavrillo. Princep a passionate, poetry mad young student, was there in the spirit of Milash Obelik, determined to win freedom for his people at any cost. This June, the forces of monarchy and modernism, of tradition

and terrorism were on a deadly collision course. The study of history is often a study of themes, the rise and fall of movements, ideas, and passions. And here now the grand forces of history were coalescing, rippling, unseen through the crowds, gathering power and refracting through the bodies of two men, one mustachioed, middle aged archduke and a fervent,

tubercular teenager. But on that sunny Sarah gave O afternoon, they were ultimately just two people, drawn inexorably towards one another by virtue of fulfilling what they felt to be their duties. They couldn't have known that at the moment of their meeting, the forces that had shaped their lives and become embodied in them would slip their mortal forms and transcend them, eventually drawing the world into the bloodiest conflict it had ever known. I'm Danish Schwartz, and this

is noble blood the Great European War. The German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck is alleged to have said in eighteen eight, will quote come out of some damned foolish thing in the Balkans. Though the quote is apocryphal, it does neatly capture the precariousness of the political situation in Southeastern Europe in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It would be nearly impossible to do justice to the nuances and intricacies of the political evolution of the Balkans in an

entire season of a podcast, let alone one episode. But to understand why Givrilla princip went to Sarajevo in June fourteen to kill Archduke Franz Ferdinand, here's what you need to know. The Balkans is the name given to the mountainous swath of land that stretches north from present day Greece up until it butts into the southern borders of

present day Austria, Hungary, and Ukraine. First formally incorporated as Roman provinces in the first century b C. The region was eventually controlled by Slavic invaders from the north, who organized the land into a series of kingdoms whose names still remain Bosnia, Herzegovina, Serbia, Bulgaria, and so on. A

quick note here. Over time, the Slavic people inhabiting the Balkans became known as Southern Slavs, and further ethnic subgrouping developed, with these ethnic subgroups sharing the names of the kingdoms they occupied with Bosniaks in Bosnia and Croats in Croatia, for example. In the Modern Age, as new land borders were established, these groups mingled, becoming citizens of countries that might not share the same name as their ethnic subgroups.

For example, Gavrilo princip was a Bosnian Serb, which meant that he was an ethnic Serb but living in the country of Bosnia. Back to the Middle Ages, over the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, the Balkan kingdoms were conquered by the Ottoman Empire in a series of battles, including the defeat of the Serbs at the Battle of Kosovopolier in thirteen eighty nine, a defeat but with one victory, the slaying of the Ottoman Sultan Maraud, the first by the

Serb milash Obilich, events commemorated on Saint Vitus's Day. For the next five centuries, various resistance groups would revolt against the Ottomans, mainly along ethnic or religious lines. By the nineteenth century, the most powerful social movement was a pan Slavic one, which aimed to win the right to self determination for Southern Slavs. In eighteen seventy eight, it looked

like they might finally have a chance. The year before, the Russian Empire had come to the aid of Orthodox rebels in the region, creating a powerful coalition that eventually, after a bloody conflict, defeat the Ottomans. The Treaty of San Stefano, signed by the Russians and the Ottomans in the spring of eighteen seventy eight, granted increased independence or autonomy to a number of new nation states, But the other imperial powers Great Britain, France, Austria, Hungary, Italy, and

Germany had different ideas. Worried that the newly unoccupied region would lead to an imbalance in the power structure that they had so carefully curated in their favor, those great powers met with Russia in July eight seventy eight to determine a future for those who had just fought for the right to determine the future for themselves. The resulting Treaty of Berlin granted Austria Hungary protectorate powers over the territory of Bosnia Herzegovina, neighboring Serbia, which had gained nearly

full autonomy from the Ottomans earlier in the century. Struggled internally over whether to ally with the Russians or with Austria Hungary. Meanwhile, some ethnic Serbs in Bosnia Herzegovina dreamed of uniting with Serbia to create a Slavic nation. Tensions only rose when Austria Hungary formally annexed Bosnia in eight ostensibly to prevent the Ottomans from trying to reclaim it,

but really to curb the expansion of Serbia. Nearly everyone was frustrated by the situation, with the Slavs feeling that they had driven out the Ottoman occupiers only to find themselves subjugated to a new order. It was into this situation that Maria and Peter Princip welcomed a son, Gavrilo, on July eighteen ninety four. The Princips lived in Oblaje, a small village in northern Bosnia. Peter, a farmer who had served as the village postman, had fought in the

Bosnia War for independence, and was known for his religious piety. Maria, known as Nana, had a beautiful singing voice and bright blue eyes, and she would carry a small bag of sugar at her waist to give to village children. Their life was a difficult one, racked by poverty and illness. Of the nine children Nana gave birth to, only three would survive childhood. Gavrillo grew up to be a slight

but scrappy child. A surviving relative would later tell the story of a young Gavrillo throwing his pencil case at the head of a teacher who was caning another student. He might have been small, said the relative, but the village boys all knew he was ferocious if you tried to wrestle him. Gavrillo had a reputation for taking on bullies,

and also for bookishness. When he wasn't caring for his family's chickens or working in the fields with his father, Gavrillo could be found with his nose in a book, a precious resource in his remote village. He particularly loved the myths of patriotic serbs past, whose legends, including that of the sultan slayer milash Obilich, were passed on through the generations via epic poetry. In nineteen o seven, Gavrillo left his tiny village of Oblage to continue his education

in Sarajevo. Unable to afford the train ticket, he traveled the one hundred and forty seven miles to the city on foot alongside his father. It was on this journey that the young Gavrillo began to fully realize the deprivations his people were suffering under the Habsburg's rule. At his trial seven years later, he would recount his impressions of the villagers he saw quote, they are completely impoverished. They

are treated like cattle. Once in Sarajevo, Gavrillo was met by his older brother Yovan, who planned to send him to an Austro Hungarian military school. However, Yovan was dissuayed did from this course of action by a friend who begged him not to make young Gavrilo into quote an executioner of his own people, or so the story goes. Whatever the cause, Yovan ultimately sent Gavrilo to Merchant School,

where he studied for three years. It was at this school that Gavrillo was first exposed to the political movement for Slavic Unification, a movement whose aim was to see the Slavic people, particularly the Serbs, a Slavic subgroup who mainly lived in Serbia and Bosnia, rule their own nation.

Over time, as Gavrillo discussed politics with classmates, read theory, and traveled the country witnessing oppression his people faced, he became more and more convinced that the Austro Hungarian Empire was just another bully, the kind he had long felt compelled to fight. By nineteen twelve, teenaged Gavrillo had been expelled from school for participating in student protests against Austro Hungarian rule. Determined to aid the Slavic movement, Gavrillo traveled

to the Serbian capital of Belgrade. It was an opportune time for Gavrillo to commit himself to the revolutionary cause. In October nineteen twelve, Bulgaria, Greece, Montenegro, and Serbia had declared war against the Ottoman Empire, which had maintained a minor foothold in the region. Only eight months later, the group known as the Balkan League had defeated the Ottomans, who ultimately seeded all of their lands west of Istanbul.

It was a striking show of strength by the Balkan League, and it was especially galvanizing for nationalist Serbs, who were further empowered by the Second Balkan War of nineteen thirteen, in which Serbia gained more territory. Gavrillo had tried to enlist in the Serbian army for both conflicts, but suffering

from tuberculosis, he was deemed too weak. Not dissuaded, he turned his attention to more unofficial channels and underwent military training conducted by one anti Austrian organization and then by its more radical spinoff, commonly known as the Black Hand. In the spring of nine fourteen, Prince Sip decided to take his radicalism one step further. After reading about Franz Ferdinand's upcoming visit in a paper, Princip approached two young men,

Trifico Grabz and Nidelko Cabrinovic, with an idea. Like Prince Sip, Grabez and Cabernovic were in their teens and they were faithful members of Young Bosnia, the Pan Slavist radical group. All three had been born in Bosnia to Serb families, and all were deeply committed to the anti Austrian cause. It did not take much for Princip to sell Grabes and Cabernovic on his plan, a plan to assassinate the Archduke. It was they thought their chance to make a difference,

to strike back on behalf of their people. Why target Franz Ferdinand. We focused last episode on the softer side of Franz Ferdinand, his shyness, his devotion to Sophie. But as is so often the case with royalty, who they are is less important to the story than what they represent, and Franz Ferdinand represented the Habsburgs, a conservative, often oppressive,

enormously powerful imperial dynasty. In some ways, the public characterization was fair, as the historian Vladimir Detegier rights, Franz Ferdinand was quote above all a true Hapsburg, brought up strictly in the spirit of some of their most renowned representatives. His energies were directed primarily to restoring the Earth's house the prestige and dignity it had enjoyed over the past

centuries end quote. Franz Ferdinand's role was a political one, and it required him to take stances that were not always popular. He was a deeply religious Catholic, too, which many in the Balkans saw as a threat to the Eastern Orthodox Church. This fear, it seems, was overstated. Though pious, Franz Ferdinand supported the right of all to practice their religion, although I will note here, like many Europeans at the time, France Ferinand did believe in some incredibly harmful, very anti

Semitic myths. Still, the Archduke may have been more open minded and forward facing than his uncle the Emperor, given his belief in greater autonomy for many of the empires diverse ethnic and religious groups. But he was still ultimately a believer in the supremacy of the Austrian Empire, and he wished to see it thrive. For those reasons and for what Franz Ferinand represented, the young men thought he had to die. In order to get the weapons they

would use. Princip reached out to the Black Hand network, who agreed to help facilitate the assassination. Whether or not the three students formerly became members of the Black Hand is still debated, but historians do agree that the Black Hand facilitated their work, providing them with weapons and transport, and connecting them with another group of would be assassins who joined their band, Mohammed Mehmed bask Danilo Ilivic, Vasso Kuberlovik,

and Svetko Popovic. The last two were high school students. After a complicated series of train and boat trips punctuated by border crossings, all seven men made it to Sarajevo, and by the morning of June twenty eighth had received their weapons. They were all prepared to kill or be killed while the men who were planning on killing them assembled. Franz Ferdinand, Sophie his wife were praying in the makeshift

chapel at the Hotel Bosna. It was the fourteenth anniversary of the day Franz Ferdinand had sworn his oath of renunciation, which allowed him to marry Sophie. The couple had written a telegram to their children that morning saying that quote Papa and Mama looked forward to seeing them soon. The couple were both dressed for a public appearance. Sophie wore a white silk summer dress and a matching white hat

resplendent with ostrich feathers and an ermine stole. Franz Ferdinand was dressed in the uniform of an Austrian cavalry general, his black pants tucked into black leather boots and his blue tunic ornamented by gold epaulets. His hat in the style of the day was draped in peacock feathers. The white lace parasol that he held at his side might have looked incongruous with his military outfit, but he was

holding it for his wife. A train took them from their hotel outside of the city into Sarajevo, where they were met by Governor General Potioric and the Sarajevo Mayor. The entourage continued on to the Philippovic Barracks, and then they all proceeded to the motorcade waiting for them. It was then that an error occurred, the first in a

fatal series of errors that would define the day. The Archduke and Archduchess had traveled to the city with a small group of special security officers who were meant to ride in the first car of the motorcade, But when they tried to enter the car outside the barracks, four local police officers insisted that the car had been reserved for local use only, and they filled the car. The elite team of guards brought to Sarajevo specifically to protect

the couple were left behind at the barracks. The motorcade progressed along the Appell Quay, The sun beat down on the heads of friends Fernand and Sophie, who sat in an open topped convertible from a fortress above the city. A twenty four cannon salute sounded, the booms echoing across the hills and mixing with the noise of the crowd, who called out Zivio, long may he live as the Archduke came into view. Unbeknownst to those in the motorcade,

they had already escaped. Too would be assassins Vasso Kuberlovik and Mohammed mement Basic, both of whom had lost their nerve and failed to shoot when the motorcade passed. They would not get so lucky a third time. As the cars drew near the Kumerjah Bridge, Nedelko Kabrinovich drew a grenade from his pocket, banged it sharply against the lamp post to dislodge the cap, and hurled it at the Archduke.

Leopold Loochka, the driver of the Archduke's car, was the first to spot the black shape flying through the air, and he acted on reflex, accelerating sharply. Franz Ferdinand threw up his arms to shield Sophy. The bomb arched closer, but because reaction proved crucial, the bomb missed most of the car, hitting the lower top of the convertible and rolling to the ground, detonating beneath the next car, sending shrapnel flying and leaving a hole in the road half

a foot deep. Miraculously, no one died. Two officers suffered superficial wounds, as had one of Sophie's ladies in waiting. Sophie had been grazed on the shoulder blade by a piece of shrapnel. Twenty or so members of the crowd had also been injured. Determined to martyr himself, Cabernovic ran towards the river and leapt off the twenty six foot high bank. All this got him, though, was a painful

landing in the nearly dry river bed. On his way down, he had swallowed a cyanide pill, but the poison seemed to have lost its potency, and Cabernovic, still alive, was quickly seized by the crowd. Maintaining his composure, Franz Ferdinand, after being assured that no one was critically injured, ordered that the motor kid proceed onto the town hall. Come on, he calmly said to his entourage. The fellow is insane, but by the time they reached the town hall, his

fear and anger had grown. As the Mayor began his prepared welcome remarks, the Archduke loudly interrupted him, saying, I come to Sarajevo and I'm greeted with bombs. It is outrageous. Sophie took his arm and whispered in his ear, calming him. After an awkward moment, Franz Ferdinand gestured for the Mayor

to continue, saying, now you may speak. When the Mayor, thrown off stride, finally completed his faltering speech, Franz Ferdinand turned to reply, only to find that the draft of his own speech had been soaked by the blood of

one of his injured men. Undaunted, he spoke a few lines, even add living a reference to recent events, thanking the mayor for the quote expressions of pleasure made by the sara Avans, quote over the failure of the assassination attempts, concluding with a passage and Serbo Croatian, an impressive feat for the Archduke was almost comically bad at languages. Franz Ferdinand said, quote, I ask you to give my heartiest greetings to the population of this beautiful capital city, and

I assure you of my unchangeable grace and kindness. The second he was out of the public eye, though all traces of grace evaporated. After learning of Kabranovitch's capture, Franz Ferdinand spat, just watch instead of rendering the fellow harmless, they will be truly Austrian about it all and give him a medal. Pulling poteoric aside, he angrily inquired, do you think any more attempts are going to be made

against me today? Go at ease, Potriarch said, I accept all responsibility, but of course things were not that simple. Debate broke out over how best to proceed. Franz Ferdinand wished to visit those injured in the bombing at the local hospital, and it was decided that the motorcaide would return to the appeal Quay, which would allow them to travel at high speeds on a straight path to the hospital.

Sophie was not scheduled for any further official business, and various members of the party discouraged her from continuing on as long as the Archduke shows himself in public today, she said, to an aid, I will not leave him. Even Franz Ferdinand could not persuade her. No, Franzie, she

said to have told him, I'm going with you. The original itinerary for the visit had had Franz Ferdinand going from the town hall to the museum, traveling down the Appell Quay before taking a right onto Franz Joseph Strauss. Under the new plan, the motorcade would pass Franz Joseph Strauss and speed further along the quay before turning onto a leader street, which would lead directly to the hospital.

The remaining assassins knew that the archduke excitinerary was likely to change following the failed attempt earlier in the day, but they could only guess at how, and so they took up a variety of positions along the quay and its side streets, ready to strike if the now very unlikely chance presented itself. At ten am, the royal party returned to their cars. After helping Franz Ferdinand and Sophie

into their car. Count Franz von Harrick, a close friend and military adjunct of the Archdukes, took up a position on the running board. If anyone was going to make another attempt from the quay, Herrick recounted, thinking I can shield him with my body. The motorcide roared off at high speed, passing one assassin triff go grabs before he even had time to react. In the first car was the Chief Detective, in the second, the Chief of Police

and Mayor. In the third Franz Ferdinand, Sophie and Potiorek, with Herrick on the running board. It was at the corner of Franz Joseph Strauss that the second error was made. It's unclear whether the driver of the first car had not been informed of the change in plans or had forgotten about them. Either way, instead of continuing straight down

the Apple, the first car turned right. The second car followed, passing under a twelve foot sign shaped like a bottle of wine marking morn Schiller's Delicatessen, and though no one knew it yet, coming within feet of a young man who had nearly given up on his plans for terror. Gavrilo Princip, the driver of the second car, had instinctively

followed the first, heading down Franz Joseph Strauss. The cars were moving at such a high speed that it's unlikely that Prince Sip or any other would be assassin could have successfully aimed a gun or a bomb. But that didn't matter, because it was then that the third error occurred. Seeing the first two cars erroneously turned, Poteoric in the third car loudly shouted, what is this Stop, You're going the wrong way. We ought to go viap al Quai,

instead of joining his companions and speeding down. Franz Joseph Strass, the driver of the third car, Leopold Lochka, who's quick thinking earlier in the morning had saved his passengers from bomb, breaked hard in front of the delicatessen. It took several seconds for him to shift the car into reverse, and in those few seconds Gavrillo Princip looked up and saw, as if in a vision, the man he had come

to kill, sitting only a few feet from him. The night before, Princip had laid flowers on the grave of a man named Bogdan Zerjik, a Serb who in n had attempted to kill the current Governor General's predecessor. His attempt having failed, Zerjik committed suicide, becoming a martyr in

death for the cause of Serb independence. Princip found himself drawn back again and again to the grave site in the days before the assassination, soaking up the revolutionary ardor of Zarazak, who, like Princip's childhood hero the medieval night milosh Obelik, had been willing to fight and die for his cause. Now it was Prince Sip's turn, summoning his courage, stoking his anger. Feeling his ancestors beside him, he drew his pistol and fired once and then again at Archduke

Franz Ferdinand. No one quite knew what had happened By the delicatessen. The crowd swarmed Princip and attacked him. Prince SIPs swallowed a cyanide pill, but as with Kebernovis, it had no effect. The driver lookya frantically, turned the car around and sped back down the quay. It was only then that those in the car could pause and take stock. Only then that Count von Herrick saw the thin trickle

of blood leaking from Franz Ferdinand's mouth. Sophie turned to look at her husband, screaming, for God's sake, what has happened? To you. She fainted onto his lap in what the others thought was shocked. Franz Ferdinand, looking down at his beloved wife, cried out, so frall, so frall, don't die, stay alive for our children. Hart grabbed the Archduke's coat collar and shook him. Blood sprayed from the Archduke's mouth onto the count's cheek. Is your highness in great pain?

He asked? It is nothing, friends, Ferdinand said, repeating at six or seven times, his face growing paler and his words growing fainter with each utterance. It is nothing, It is nothing, And then he too fell into unconsciousness. Neither Franz Ferdinand nor Sophie would wake again. A bullet had hit Sophie's right side, running through her body, and she died in the car. Before they could reach the Governor's residence, Franz Ferdinand was carried to a bed at the resident end.

After struggling to unclasp his collar, they cut open the Archduke's tunic with a saber. The Archduke's bare chest revealed a gold chain that he had hung with seven good luck charms, and it revealed a bullet hole in his neck just above his right collar bone. When they tried to lift him, blood spurted from his mouth on to the men around him and the walls of the chamber.

By eleven thirty am, he too was gone. Days later, when she said goodbye to her parents for the last time, little Sophie, their daughter only thirteen, said quote, God wanted Mommy and Poppy to join him at the same time. It's best that they died together, because Poppy couldn't live without Mommy, and Mommy could not have gone on without Poppy. Sophie and friends Ferdinand had died as they had lived. Their final thoughts, even as they faced death, were for

each other. They did not speak of war or of peace, as the rest of the continent soon would, of ultimatums, of negotiations, of threats, or of treaties. Though they represented an empire, though they wore its uniforms and symbolized its feats and its follies, in the end, they were simply a man and a woman who had lived for one another, but who would be remembered for their deaths and how

those deaths would change the world. What happens next is complicated, and we will get to the political maneuvering that leads to the outbreak of World War One later in that summer. But for now, I think it's worth taking just another moment to focus on the Archduke, Sophie and the assassin. Even in death, Franz Ferdinand and Sophie were not treated

as equals. Faced with mounting and violent evidence that the world was becoming hostile to their way of life, the Hapsburg chose to respond to the assassination by doubling down on everything that made the hapsburgs. Hapsburgs. Emperor Franz Joseph led the funeral planning along with his Lord High Chamberlain Alfred de Montinovo, architect of so many of Sophy's humiliations in life. The two men retained their stubborn, snobby insistence

on protocol. The resulting funeral quote so startlingly simple, so insulting to the feelings of a grieving people. As the Vienna Reich's post put it was the first time that an heir to the Austrian throne had been denied a state funeral. No foreign dignitaries were invited to attend, nor

were any members of the military. The Emperor and Montenuovo even banned the couple's three children from attending the funeral service, because, in the chilly logic of the Habsburgs, the descendants of a Morganatic marriage were not worthy of mourning alongside the full blooded members of the imperial family. The slapdash, insulting nature of the funeral arrangements were not lost even on the stray and nobility and resentment toward the Emperor and

Montenuovo began to grow. At the final procession of the couple's coffins to the train station, the anger bubbled over and led to revolt, albeit revolt in the more muted style of the aristocracy. Monte Nuovo had requested that no members of the nobility joined this final procession, but fed up a hundred aristocrats, counting among their number members of the most prominent families in the Empire, spontaneously joined on foot,

marching behind the coffins. After an additional service at the Habsburg's home in Austria, where the family had spent so many summers, Franz Ferdinand and Sophie were finally laid to rest in a pair of identical white marble tombs, each bearing the same inscription in Latin. Joined in marriage. They were joined by the same fate, and what of Gavrilo Princip and his fellow co conspirators. Of the seven men who had waited along the main street to kill the archduke,

only one would escape. Mohammed memed Basic fled into Montenegro, whose government refused to extradite him to Austria for trial. He would live until nineteen forty three, when members of a Croatian fascist group killed him during World War Two. Princip and Cabernovic had both been arrested on the day of the assassination, and both were interrogated by the authorities for days about the plot. Both denied the involvement of

the Black Hand, hoping to protect their network. However, after their remaining co conspirators were rounded up and arrested, more of the story began to emerge. In October nineteen fourteen, six men went to trial. Under the Bosnian constitution, only those over the age of twenty could receive the death penalty, and four of the six defendants were still teenagers. For some of the men, who had dreamed of martyrdom for the cause, this was disappointing, but they made the best

of it. Defiantly declaring the righteousness of their actions in courts. I do not feel like a criminal, Prince Ship said, because I put away the one who was doing evil. Graves called the assassination quote one of the greatest works in history. Only Keebernovic, who had thrown the bomb that had nearly killed Franz Ferdinand, first expressed remorse. All of us, he said on the stand, nevertheless feel very sorry because we did not know the late Franz Ferdinand was the

father of a family. We were greatly touched by the last words, he uttered to his wife. I humbly submit my apologies to the children of the heir apparent and asked them to forgive us. Amidst all the political talk, it was a shocking reminder of the personal aspect of it all. Princip was not pleased and stood up, shouting that Kebernovic did not speak for him. On October to twenty,

sentences were handed down. Popovic received thirteen years in prison, Princip, Kebernovic and Grabs twenty, and Ilik and Kuberlovic were sentenced to death by hanging. Nearly all of the men had been suffering from tuberculosis even before the assassination and the conditions in prison did not help. One by one, over the next several years, they began to die. Kabernovich was the first to go, but before he died, he was the recipient of a profound act of forgiveness too of France.

Ferdinand and Sophie's children. Little Sophie and Max, having heard about his statements of remorse and his apology in court, wrote him a letter telling him that his conscience could be at peace, for they forgave him for his part in the death of their parents. Princip himself died in April nine eighteen. His tuberculosis had become so grave that at the time of his death, aged twenty three, he

weighed only nine indep pounds. He had lived to see his actions spark a deadly World war, far beyond what he had expected, but he would not live to see it end. He died eight months before Armistice. How exactly did the assassination of Franz Ferdinand spark World War One? Join me on a journey back to your high school

history class to review the falling dominoes. After the assassination on June, those in the Austrian government who wanted war with Serbia, including Franz Ferdinand's old nemesis, Conrad, saw an opportunity. He organized a meeting with the German ambassador to ensure that Germans would support the Austrians should war be declared. The German ambassador was reluctant, but he sent a telegram to Kaiser Wilhelm the Second informing him of the conversation.

The Kaiser was profoundly affected by the assassination, furious and grief stricken, and sent back a reply containing, among other things, one fateful line, the Serbs must be sorted and that right soon. The Austrians had the encouragement they needed, which was only solidified by the so called blank Check, a guarantee delivered by a German count on behalf of the

Kaiser that Germany would support Austria unconditionally. A month of secret discussions between the two governments ensued as they decided to pursue war. They realized that any threat against Serbia would probably be seen as a threat against Serbia's ally Russia, but this was not necessarily seen as a bad thing. It might be the chance Germany and Austria Hungary needed to weaken Russia and her allies, and Wilhelm was all too happy to challenge his first cousin, the Czar of Russia.

At six pm on July, the Austrian minister in Serbia delivered an ultimatum to Serbia with a forty eight hour deadline. The ultimatum contained ten demands. Two days later, Serves released a statement agreeing to nearly all of the demands, a response that was seen by most as diplomatic and conciliatory. What the Serbian government did not know, though, was that the minister had been instructed quote. However, the Serbs react to the ultimatum, you must break off relations and it

must come to war. Over the next five days, the great powers of Europe scrambled both to avoid war and to decide, should war come, whose side they would take. On July, Austria declared war against Serbia and bombed Belgrade. Two days later, on August one, Germany declared war on Russia, then on France on August three, topping it all off by invading neutral Belgium. Britain sent Germany an ultimatum withdraw from neutral Belgium or we will enter the war. The

ultimatum rejected Britain declared war on Germany August four. It was yet another family entanglement. King George the Fifth of England was also a first cousin of the Czar and Kaiser. By August twelfth, all of the major European powers had configured into two alliances, the Allied Powers, which include France, Russia, and Great Britain, among others, and the Central Powers, which included Germany, Austria, Hungary, and the Ottoman Empire among others.

In the next four years, countries from around the world would join, including Japan, China, and the United States. The fighting would be unlike any scene before. More than eight point five million soldiers would die, and it is estimated thirteen million civilians. Franz Ferdinand and Sophie could not have foreseen this, as they returned resolutely to their car, in which they had already survived one assassination attempt that day. Gavrillo princip could not have possibly known as the Archduke's

motor car breaked in front of him. What would happen once he raised his pistol and fired. No one could have seen it coming, could have glimpsed the monstrous specter of death and destruction that lurched towards them that had been summoned to Sarajevo by the chance meeting of the Archduke and his assassin. That's the story of the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. But keep listening after a brief sponsor break to hear a little bit more about one

more tiny consequence. World War One was a glowable conflict, inflamed by the close family relationships of the countries involved, and some of those close family relations were slightly too close for comfort. King George the fifth of England was first cousins with both Czar Alexander the Second of Russia and Kaiser Wilhelm. All three were grandchildren of Queen Victoria, and they all shared a strong family resemblance. After the outbreak of World War One, anti German sentiment was running

rampant in England. But go back a few generations and recall that the British royal family was actually pretty German themselves. It was because of that anti German sentiment that the king decreed in June nineteen seventeen that their family name would no longer be the incredibly German sounding Saxe cober Gotha and would instead be the much more familiar and much more English sounding windsor m M. Noble Blood is a production of I Heart Radio and Grimm and Mild

from Aaron Mankey. Noble Blood is hosted by me Danish Wartz. Additional writing and researching done by Hannah Johnston, hannah's Wick, Mura Hayward, Courtney Sender, and Laurie Goodman. The show is produced by Rema L. Kali, with supervising producer Josh Thain and executive producers Aaron Mankey, Alex Williams, and Matt Frederick. For more podcasts from I heart Radio, visit the I heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.