The date was June 28, 1914, a memorable day, 25 years ago this week. It was the 550th anniversary, of the battle of Kossovo ("the Field of Blackbirds") in which the Serbs lost their independence to the Turks. It was the day which Franz Ferdinand—Archduke of Austria-Este, Heir Apparent to the Austro-Hungarian throne—and his good Czech wife, Sophie, chose to visit Sarajevo, and it was the day when the trigger was pulled which set off World War I.
Franz Ferdinand was a barrel-chested, walrus-mustached man of 51, unusually able and liberal by the standards of the Court which surrounded his aged uncle,
Emperor Franz Josef. A few days earlier, he had gone to witness Army maneuvers in Bosnia, a province whose patriotic aspirations he planned to satisfy, when he came to the throne, by giving it autonomy.
His personable wife Sophie, who was 46, came to join him, and they put up at a hotel in Ilidze, about twelve miles from the provincial capital, Sarajevo. It rained dismally on the maneuvers, but the morning of St. Vitus' day dawned fair and fine. To celebrate it they had planned to pay a state visit to the provincial capital.
They arrived at Sarajevo just before 10 and paused to review a contingent of local troops. Then Franz Ferdinand got into a high-sided touring car with the top down. Sophie sat at his side and General Potiorek, the Governor of the Province, occupied a jump seat in front of them. The procession of four cars formed—one ahead and two behind them—and they drove on toward the Town Hall.
Sarajevo nestles between the hills in the valley of the Miljachka River. Its main thoroughfare, the Appel Quay, follows the river bank. The domes and minarets of Sarajevo's 100 mosques gleamed white in the rain-washed air as the procession started up the quay toward the Town Hall (see map).
Seven members of the straggling crowd did no cheering. All seven were native Bosnians, but three of them—young Gavrilo Princip, Trifko Grabezh, Nedelyko Chabrinovitch—had arrived three weeks earlier from Belgrade, sent by the Ujedinjenje Hi smrt (known as the "Black Hand" Society, sworn to reunite Bosnia and Serbia). They had bombs and revolvers to murder the Archduke, and during the three weeks, with the help of a local conspirator, Hitch, they had recruited and armed three Sarajevo youngsters to aid in the attempt.
Chabrinovitch took his post at the first bridge along the Archduke's route, Princip at the second, Grabezh at the third. The four local bumpkins, quaking in their boots, were stationed near Chabrinovitch. They never got up their nerve to take part.
The imperial car drove slowly to give the peasants a good view. General Potiorek was pointing out some new barracks to the Archduke and his wife. The passengers did not see wild-eyed young Chabrinovitch take a small bomb from his pocket and knock off its cap against a post. But the chauffeur noticed and stepped on the gas. A small black object hurtled through the air, struck the rear of the car, fell spinning to the street. Then with a roar and a flash the bomb exploded. Several bystanders were injured. The Archduke's aide, riding in the third car, was badly wounded. The time was about 10 a.m.