Dan Snow's History Hit - How WWI Started

Episode Date: June 30, 2024

110 years ago today, the heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire was struck down by an assassin's bullet. His death triggered one of the most destructive wars in human history, a conflict that set the stage for the 20th century.With the help of historian Sue Woolmans, Dan gives a minute-by-minute account of the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, and the beginning of the First World War.Written and produced by Dan Snow, and edited by Dougal Patmore.For more episodes on the origins of World War One:The Assassination of Franz Ferdinand - https://shows.acast.com/dansnowshistoryhit/episodes/the-assassination-of-franz-ferdinandHow WW1 Began - https://shows.acast.com/dansnowshistoryhit/episodes/howwwibeganEnjoy unlimited access to award-winning original documentaries that are released weekly and AD-FREE podcasts. Sign up HERE for 50% off for 3 months using code ‘DANSNOW’.We'd love to hear from you - what do you want to hear an episode on? You can email the podcast at [e-mail] can take part in our listener survey here.

This is History's Heroes. People with purpose, brave ideas, and the courage to stand alone. Including a pioneering surgeon who rebuilt the shattered faces of soldiers in the First World War. You know, he would look at these men and he would say, don't worry, Sonny, you'll have as good a face as any of us when I'm done with you. Join me, Alex von Tunzelman, for History's Heroes. Subscribe to History's Heroes wherever you get your podcasts. Europe today is a powder keg, and the leaders are like men smoking in an arsenal.

A single spark will set off an explosion that will consume us all. I cannot tell you when that explosion will occur, but I can tell you where. Some damned foolish thing in the Balkans will set it off. That was one of the greatest predictions in history. It was made by the German Chancellor, the Iron Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, in 1878. You're listening to Dan Snow's history hit. It is the 110th anniversary of exactly that damn foolish thing in the Balkans. of exactly that damn foolish thing in the Balkans. On the 28th of June 1914,

the heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, was shot dead on the street in Sarajevo, Bosnia. It triggered a series of actions, a chain reaction of decision-making that would lead to a global war. I've told that story of how war broke out on other podcasts, which you can find in the show notes. But in this episode, I'm going to tell the story of that assassination. We're going deep. And for those of you who subscribe,

instead of getting this episode on a Sunday, you're getting it two days early for the anniversary. So just as we did with D-Day, I'm going to tell the story in real time. So for those of you brave souls who got up with me at five in the morning on D-Day, if you want to listen to this for the minute by minute account 110 years ago, please hit play when I say so at nine o'clock in the morning on the 28th of June.

That, for my friends on the East Coast of the US, is 4am. Sorry about that. Good luck. I'm joined on this episode by the brilliant Sue Woolman. She wrote a book, The Assassination of the Archduke Sarajevo 1914, a couple of years ago. She joined me on the podcast, so we're going to hear some of her thoughts

on this episode as well. This is a story about a happy, very lonely couple. How they were tragically murdered in an act of violence that would tip the world into a monstrous war.

T-minus 10. Atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima. God save the king. No black-white unity war. Right folks, if you want to listen along in real time, let's hit play right now. The time is 10 o'clock in the morning on the 28th of June, 1914. We are in Sarajevo. It's a pretty provincial city. It's in the Balkans. It's built along the banks of a river, which runs along the bottom of a wooded valley, above the sort of ribbon of

buildings through this valley, above the church spires and the minarets of mosques, you can see dark pine trees and they stretch up to the high ridges above. It's a sunny day, the warm weather has really brought out the crowds and they are here to watch royalty come to town. There are flags hanging from windowsills. There are flowers. Really, there's a riot of colour on the eve of such terrible darkness. At the station, illustrious visitors have been greeted. The national anthem is being played. The mayor, Mangold Fahim Effendi Kocic, is waiting for them at the station.

He's got a very smart black fez on his head. Now, the royal guests have walked along the carpet, a crimson carpet, the colour of blood. They've gone to the barracks opposite the station. And just before 10 o'clock, well, around about now, they are walking along the lines of soldiers from the barracks, inspecting them. The men standing ramrod straight, standing to attention as the royal illustrious visitors walk past.

After that, they've headed for a fleet of cars that were pulled up nearby. Engines turning over. The cars gleaming in the sun. There are seven cars. The third car in line is the largest. It's four years old. It's a Viennese Graf and Stift Waderbüloin touring car. It's a very fancy car. You can still go and see it in a wonderful museum in Vienna to this day. There's a pendant fluttering from its side, a small yellow flag, really, the passenger side.

It's a gold background, but on it the image of a black double-headed eagle. It's one of the most instantly recognisable bits of design in Europe at the time. It is the banner of one of the most remarkable and powerful families in European history. The eagle, well, it's the imperial signal borrowed from the Roman Empire, the Eastern Roman Empire, in particular the Byzantines. Its roots go all the way back to the foundation of the Roman Empire and even earlier. But for 500 years, this gold banner with its black eagle has flown above battlements that have been bombarded by its enemies, both Christian and Muslim. It's led conquering armies into battle.

A few of them were thrown at the feet of Napoleon Bonaparte. It is the symbol of the House of Habsburg. And in this car, this third car in the little cluster of cars, is that house's heir, its future. That man is Archduke Franz Ferdinand Karl Ludwig Joseph Maria of Austria. He's the closest male relative to the ancient emperor of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Franz Joseph. He is in his mid-80s. He's been emperor for more than 60 years. I mean, he's an extraordinary story. He was a man born into a world just recovering from the Napoleonic Wars.

He's desperately trying to come to terms with a world of railways, of telegraphs, of electricity, of democracy. He had lost his wife to an assassin's blade. He's lost his only son to suicide. His emperor was fractious. He's lost his only son to suicide His emperor was fractious His neighbouring powers licking their lips Hungry for his provinces

Franz Joseph is old He's bowed with the responsibility of holding this empire together And next up, it's Franz Ferdinand's turn Now as he walks over to the car He's with his wife, Sophie. The two of them are a curiosity in Sarajevo. This is the capital of Bosnia-Herzegovina. It's a newish province in their sprawling empire. As a frontier province, a quite restless province, It's got a kaleidoscopic population of different religions and languages and ethnicities. And as such, the Bosnians aren't used to seeing their rulers in

the flesh. The emperor had come once in 1910, but on a rather different occasion. On that visit, hundreds of people had been put under house arrest. Strangers had been exiled from the city. had been put under house arrest. Strangers had been exiled from the city. The entire military garrison of the province had lined the route of his motorcade in two ranks. A thousand special police constables had been sent from the imperial heartlands to bolster the security effort. 200 people had been arrested just on the off chance they might be planning something. Not today. Today the garrison are in their barracks, there are no special measures, security is in the hands of the Sarajevo Police Department, which number 120 men. It's a Sunday and so only half of those 120 are on duty.

As the royal party approached the car, the roof had been up, but it was now being taken down. It was a lovely warm day, and so there was a brief delay. The cover of the car was rolled back. They want the crowds to be able to see their future sovereign. Just before she gets in the car, Sophie, Franz Ferdinand's wife, discards her ermine wrap. The weather is very clement. Now, in the first couple of cars, there's something discreet going on.

There's a bit of a scuffle. The Archduke's security detachment are trying to get in, as had been agreed, but the local police are not having it, and they insist on leading the convoy in the first vehicle. So the Archduke's specialist security team is going to be left behind here at the train station. The engines are revving up. It's about six minutes past the hour. The journey gets underway.

The police ride in the first car. The mayor and the commissioner of the police in the second. The mayor, you can imagine, was incredibly stressed having such illustrious guests in his city. And actually, the destination of this car journey was the town hall, his town hall, where he was going to host a reception. In the third vehicle, that fancy car with the rooftop down, came Franz Ferdinand and Sophia. And the outfits that day were fabulously Ruritanian. Franz Ferdinand was wearing the uniform of an Austrian cavalry general. So black trousers with red piping, very shiny black leather boots, black serge tunic piped in red, bright gold epaulets, three gold stars on the high collar, an enormous plume of green peacock feathers erupting from his helmet. On his right hand,

Sophie sat. She was wearing white silk, a dress with panels of lace, a corsage of white and red rosebuds at her waist. She also had a hat with ostrich feathers, and her face was partially hidden by a gauzy veil. Right in front of them, facing them, sat the car's owner, Count Franz Harak. Next, General Oskar Potoriak, the governor of the province of Bosnia. There was a driver, Leopold Lioka, and a member of the Archduke's staff in front. Behind them, there was a car with Sophie's lady-in-waiting

and the governor's military assistants, adjutants, and the cars behind them had other members of the entourage. The last car was left empty as a spare in case of breakdown. So the cars are now driving up the main drag in Sarajevo. It's so-called Apple Quay. You can still drive or stroll through the city along this road today. The geography has survived a very turbulent century that was unleashed that June day. You've got a river, the Miliaka on the right, a number of bridges across it, the cities on the left. The river in that June was a trickle really, the snow melt from the mountains had passed through and there was only a few inches of water, perhaps a foot of water flowing over a rocky bed. There was a decent crowd, thick in some

places, they were enjoying the shade of the poplar and lined trees that lined the road. There had been some temporary archways built across the road with big welcoming messages for the royal couple. And there was bunting, flags. It felt like a happy occasion. The Archduke appeared happy, certainly. He was engaged, I think, by the welcome he was receiving. Sophie was smiling. It was a special day for the couple, which I'll come on to, but it was actually far more special and consequential than they knew, even at that moment. There was an old fortress above the city built by the recently ejected Turkish Empire. It was blasting out. I think it was a 24-gun salute, the deep thud of those guns. Bang, bang, thump, a ghastly portent. On drove Franz Ferdinand and Sophie. They swept up the Apple Quay with the soundtrack of cheering and the blast of cannon. An eyewitness said, the crowd began to murmur and everybody pushed to the front lines on the edge of the pavement. Ten minutes past ten,

the first car has arrived near the intersection where the commercial bridge crosses the river. Now in the crowd, a young man reached into his pocket and he took out a bomb. The bomb was operated by a detonator, so a cap that needed a sharp blow against a hard surface to trigger the explosive mechanism that lay within it. And there was a 10-second delay then to protect the operator. He whacks the cap against the lamppost, aims at the archduke's prominent ostrich feather hat, and threw. The man's name was Nedeljko Khabrijevic. He was 19 years old, and he'd grown up in this city. His dad owned a cafe in town.

To his dismay, he realised his father had been an Austrian sympathiser and informer. Khabrijevic has failed his exams, dropped out of school at 14, very troubled childhood. He had a fight with a co-worker, dad kicked him out of home. Now he's a Bosnian, but he's of Serbian ethnic origin. So he found his way to neighbouring Serbia, where he just got hurled, immersed in a pool of anti-Austrian conspiracy theorising propaganda, sitting in the cafes of Belgrade, just drinking up, becoming radicalised. A story too familiar with young men today, who have dispensed with the cafes and they get sucked ever deeper into conspiracy now from the comfort of their own bedrooms. He'd been anarchist, he'd been a

socialist, but he'd finally decided on nationalism. He believed that all Serbs should be gathered together in a great, giant, glorious Serbia, rather than languish under the yoke of Austrians and Hungarians and other empires. That morning he'd wept. He told his family he was going on a long journey. But I think as the day went on, he got a bit of a spring in his step and he put on his dark best suit and he put on a stiff collar and little neat tie. He said later, I thought that posterity should have my picture taken on that day. So her memory would remain behind. And we do have that picture. We see a fresh faced young man, little pencil moustache, suit. Perhaps he's trying to look a bit older than his 19 years. He's looking at us out of the corner of his eyes like he has a secret. So we've just passed 10

minutes past 10. Kabinovich has struck his blow against the Habsburg monarchies, hurled that bomb, and it would be the first bomb of a war more terrible than this troubled, confused, idealistic teenager could possibly imagine. The Archduke's driver sees something arcing through the air towards him. Showing quick thinking, he stamps on the accelerator, the car roars forward with a shudder. The Archduke also sees something, he lifts his arms to protect Sophie, and they watch the bomb as it arcs down, down, down. It hits the car on the back of the folded up roof, bounces off and lands watch the bomb as it arcs down, down, down. It hits the car on the back of the folded up roof, bounces off and lands on the road behind where bang with a sharp crack

it blows up. Windows shatter, the crowd screams, injured people on the sidewalk. Sophie flinches, she leans forward and grasps the back of her neck. Franz Ferdinand shouts to stop. He checks Sophie's neck, there's a small scratch, thankfully. The back of the car, though, is pot-marked with shrapnel scars. The car's owner hops out to check on the car behind. Real blood has been spilt there. Sophie's lady-in-waiting is injured. Two others are wounded. They're bleeding. They're dispatched to the hospital. Back in the royal car, the arch-shoot fixes the governor of Bosley with an icy glare he's back I thought something like this might happen the processional route they were now was a chaotic scene the crowd has surged into

the road some of them were chasing Kabrinovich he'd thrown the bomb and he raced across the apple key towards the river he vaulted the railings threw himself in as he did so he gulped down a vial of cyanide but um just as he failed to kill the archduke he now failed to kill himself the cyanide was out of date and he was vomiting vomiting, foaming at the mouth. The river was only a trickle. He plunged four or five meters down the land with a great thump on the rocky riverbed with its trickle of water on. The crowd collared him, and he got beaten up, kicked, dragged to the police. He shouted, I'm a Serbian hero, as he was hauled off. So back on the quay right now, the Archduke's attempting to reassert control. Come on, he says, in his bigger voice he can muster. The fellow's insane. Let us

go on with our programme. The driver gets back in, he pushes the accelerator on the car and the car heads off towards that reception in the town hall. So the royal party has survived an attempt on their lives, but it wouldn't be the last that day. They arrive at the town hall around about now, 110 years ago. The mayor doesn't know what's happened. He was in the first car, remember, so he just continued the journey thinking the noise was another blast from the guns above the town. The archduke's car slows to a halt. The steps are lined with another red carpet. Dignitaries are standing bolt upright, their best bib and tucker. There's Muslims on one side with fezzes and waistcoats and Christians on the other in top hats and tails. The Archduke approached the steps. The Mayor sort of gallops into his pre-prepared speech.

He says, our hearts are full of happiness over the most gracious visit with which your Highnesses are pleased to honour our capital city of Sarajevo. And I consider myself happy that your Highnesses can read in our faces the feelings of love and devotion. The Archduke interrupts him, he roars, what kind of devotion is this? Now let's get into the detail, let's hear from Sue Woolmans who wrote the book on the assassination, Sarajevo 1914 and the murder that changed the world. Let's listen to Sue. Franz Ferdinand himself explodes in temper. He was a man with a temper. And he said, how dare you speak to me like this? Your city is throwing bombs at me. And he was just about to carry on raging at this poor official when his wife, Sophie,

just puts her hand on his arm. That's all she had to do to control this man with a bad temper. to do to control this man with a bad temper. And he stops. He lets the mayor continue his speech. So the mayor staggers on. He says all the citizens of the capital city of Sarajevo find that their souls are filled with happiness and they most enthusiastically greet your highness's most illustrious visit with the most cordial of welcomes and deeply convinced that this day in our beloved city of Sarajevo will ever increase your highness's most gracious interest in our progress and well-being. Those words must have sounded pretty flat. Franz Ferdinand makes his reply. He was handed his pre-prepared speech. His assistants had been carrying it, but he'd been wounded in the bomb

blast, so the speech, the paper, is now stained with blood. Franz Ferdinand is gripping it. He thanked the people of the city. He thanked them for the resounding ovations with which the population received me and my wife. The more, since I see them as an expression of pleasure over the failure of the assassination attempt. At the end of the short speech, he added a few sentences of Serbo-Croatian, and he said, May I ask you to give my cordial greetings to the inhabitants of this beautiful capital city

and assure you of my unchanged regard and favour. The gathered officials cheered. The royal couple mounted the crimson stairs. They headed inside. When they get into the town hall, it's basically a cup of tea and a meeting of officials while Sophie goes upstairs and meets some of the Muslim ladies. While she's upstairs, Franz Ferdinand's officials desperately try to talk him out of going anywhere in the car. But he says, no, no, I'm going out there. I'm going to show myself again. And I'd like the car to go back

to the hospital so that I can see the injured people. Franz Ferdinand also drafts a cable to his uncle in Vienna telling him what's happened and told him that he'd survived. Then he continues discussing with his officials what to do next. He stares at the governor. Do you think more attempts are going to be made against me today? The governor insisted, go at ease. I accept all responsibility. Well, great.

So two of Franz Ferdinand's advisors weren't exactly thrilled with this answer. They pressed the governor on the issue. The governor spat back, do you think Sarajevo is full of assassins? They do decide to change the schedule. They're going to drop the visit to the National Museum. Franz Ferdinand was really concerned. He wanted to visit his team members in hospital. The government disagreed with that. But Franz Ferdinand shouts, the man is my fellow officer. He's bleeding for me. You'll have the goodness to understand that. Now, don't forget that as these arguments 110 years ago now are going on in front of a room full of dignitaries, and one of them has left an extraordinary account of this moment. We could not take our eyes off the Archduke, but not as you look at the main

person in a court spectacle. We could not think of him as royalty at all. He was so incredibly strange. He was striding quite grotesquely, lifting his legs as high as if he was doing the goose step. I suppose he was trying to show he was not afraid. I tell you, it was not like a reception. He was talking with the governor, Torek, jeering at him, taunting him with his failure to preserve order, and we were all silent, not because we were impressed by him, for he was not at all our Bosnian idea of a hero, but we all felt awkward, because we knew that when he went out, he would certainly be killed. It wasn't a matter of being told, he would certainly be killed.

It wasn't a matter of being told. But we knew how the people felt about him, and the Austrians, and we knew that if one man had thrown a bomb and failed, another man would throw a bomb, and another after that, if he should fail. So, it's around 10.20,

on the 28th of June, 1914. You're listening to a minute-by-minute account, 110 years on from the events of that day. Let's leave the Archduke and his wife in the town hall for a few minutes at that reception, and let's explore why the city was so full of men who wanted to throw bombs at him, to kill him. Let's start by talking about Bosnia itself. Its outline, it's a rather reluctant province, the Austro-Hungarian Empire. It had been part of the Turkish Muslim Empire of the Ottomans for centuries before, being conquered in the 1870s by the Austrians. During that conquest, Sarajevo had been a battlefield between Austrian and Turkish forces. In October 1878, there was street fighting there. An Austrian general reported,

there ensued one of the most terrible battles conceivable. The troops were fired upon from every house, from every window, from each door. Even the women took part. And after that fighting, the Austrians, we know they dragged people out into the streets and summarily executed them. Now, typical of the Balkans, there's a kind of strange legal limbo in Bosnia from that effective de facto conquest of the 1870s to about 1908, when the Austrians illegally annexed it and added it to their sprawling empire.

Many Bosnians are unhappy about this change of status. There are Bosnian Muslims who regret the passing of the Ottoman Empire. There are Bosnian Christians, many of whom identify as Serbians. The Serbians had also lived under Turkish domination, but they had also regained their independence. And as you get when empires retreat, it can excite the ambitions of previously subjugated people. So now Serbian nationalists, newly independent, excited, ambitious, they were calling for a single greater Serbia, one country for all the Serbs in the Balkans. And obviously there would be a few minority populations thrown in, but they should count themselves lucky, grateful to find themselves as part of such a glorious, glorious new exciting national project. Now many

Serbs therefore wish to see neighbouring Serb populations freed from the misery of being ruled by Austria-Hungary or Bulgaria or Romania wherever it was and they should be joined up with their fellow Serbs. Austria-Hungary therefore regarded Serbia as Serbia as a source of unrest, fanning separatism within their empire, whilst Serbia looked to Austria-Hungary as a big, powerful neighbour, oppressing their beloved fellow Serbs, but also a danger to their new little state. It might choose to crush Serbia at any point. Both sides, weirdly, were sort of right. The Austrians were right. The Serbian government was turning a blind eye to, or actively aiding terrorists,

actively fomenting trouble within the Austrian Empire. But the Serbians were also right, that the Austrians were thinking about crushing little Serbia and perhaps adding it to their empire. Now, one Serbian who particularly despised the Austrians was Colonel Dragutin Dimitrievich. He was a huge man, a monster of a man. His nickname was Apis from the Egyptian for bull. The bull was in charge of Serbian intelligence. He was also the leader of an underground gang, the Black Hand. He was no stranger to political violence. He'd

taken part in a coup in Serbia and murdered lots of people way back. He'd sent a terrorist to Vienna to try and kill the emperor. He'd established a secret terrorist training centre in Belgrade. When he heard that Franz Ferdinand was coming to Bosnia, he decided to strike a blow against the Austrian Empire by killing its heir. And he wasn't the only one. A group of young men, graduates actually from his training centre, radicalised by Serbian nationalist propaganda, they decided they wanted to kill the archduke as well.

Among them was Krupinovic, who we've met, who threw the bomb. And one of his mates was also a Bosnian Serb, also 19 years old, and a particular zealot. He was pale, he was thin, he was troubled. He'd actually been turned down for the Serbian army because he, he's quote, was too weak, so he had much to prove. His name was Gravillo Princip. You listen to Dan Snow's History and there's more coming up. This is History's Heroes.

People with purpose, brave ideas, and the courage to stand alone. Including a pioneering surgeon who rebuilt the shattered faces of soldiers in the First World War. You know, he would look at these men and he would say, don't worry, Sonny, you'll have as good a face as any of us when I'm done with you. Join me, Alex von Tunzelman, for History's Heroes. Subscribe to History's Heroes wherever you get your podcasts. Now, the bull heard that there were a few teenagers that were willing to die for the cause and he brought them straight aboard on the night of the 27th of may 1914 so about a month before the events were describing these teenagers were put through a ceremony straight out of a spy novel pre-war they were taken to a basement in Belgrade, hooded members of the Black Hand

inducted them into their order, swore them to secrecy, told them the plan, revealed names of other conspirators, handed over weapons. Four Belgian pistols, six bombs, specially built little things, like grenades really, little black boxes filled with nails, lead, made in the Serbian state arsenal. They're designed to be carried in a pocket, be concealed. They were also all given vials of cyanide. Death for these men would be preferable to capture, revealing all to the Austrian authorities. Princip, Kribunovic, another plotter, left Belgrade the next day. Just three rootless, insecure teenage boys. Now buoyed up, ecstatic, they felt the spotlight of history was upon them.

They were going to strike a blow on the main stage. They'd found meaning. A Serbian frontier official spirited them across into Bosnia. They arrived back into Sarajevo, where they'd sprung from. They used their own names. They didn't even try and hide in plain sight. They were back into Sarajevo, where they'd sprung from. They used their own names. They didn't even try and hide in plain sight. They were just wandering around in plain sight. The police didn't question them. The police didn't note their presence. These were young men who'd been exiled from the city in the past for anti-Austrian agitation. They were known to have

been in Belgrade, and nothing was done about them at all. Back in Serbia, it was the worst kept secret in town. The Prime Minister, Michael Pasic, we know the Education Minister at later reports, discussed the plot at a meeting of the cabinet. And we know there was a report that had landed on the Prime Minister's desk with the names of the people involved, their task, the fact that weapons had been provided by rogue elements of his own government. But the Prime Minister was then in a terrible situation. He knew that if they pulled it off, it would be the grounds for war. Austria-Hungary would invade Serbia.

His government was complicit. So what should he do? Should he expose the plot and risk being branded a traitor by his own side, by the nationalists in Serbia? He was only clinging to power as it was. He would get voted out. He would lose his job.

He would possibly lose his life. Or does he do nothing? Let the plot succeed? Plunge his nation into war and possible occupation? He opted to do sort of neither. He opted for compromise. He issued a vague warning to Vienna. This is one of those extraordinary moments. The Serbian representative in the Austrian capital, the Serbian ambassador basically, was told to alert the Habsburg authorities, but do it subtly. And so on June the 5th, he did so. He told the finance minister, quote, the Archduke's visit will cause much discontent among the Serbs who will consider it a provocative gesture. Some young Serb might slip a live cartridge into his rifle instead of a blank and fire it. That bullet might hit the man who provoked him. Therefore, it would be good and

reasonable if Archduke Franz Ferdinand were not to go to Sarajevo. Now, astonishingly, the Austrian finance minister shrugged his shoulders and said, well, let us hope that nothing happens. That was that. Right, we are now coming up to 10.30. We're at about 10.28 on the morning of the 28th of June. Franz Ferdinand and Sophie are still in the town hall. We just found out how the assassins came to be in Sarajevo. What about how the royal couple, how did they come here? Well, their road to Sarajevo was tortuous, rather unlikely, and already laced with tragedy. On the 30th of January, 1889, the Crown Prince of Austria, Prince Royal of Hungary and Bohemia, the only son, Rudolf, heir of the Emperor Franz Joseph, was found dead with his lover in a hunting lodge in Meiling, just southwest of Vienna.

This murder-suicide stunned Europe. It also left the Habsburg monarchy without an heir. It propelled Rudolf's cousin, Franz Ferdinand, into the line of succession. Rudolf had a daughter. She couldn't succeed, of course, despite the fact that the best Austrian ruler in history by far had been Maria Theresa in the 18th century, but that's another story. Anyway, Franz Ferdinand was deeply unpopular with his uncle, the emperor, was deeply unpopular with his uncle, the emperor, because Franz Ferdinand is in love with a Czech aristocrat called Sophie. Now, you and I might think that a nice countess,

Countess Sophie Csotek von Wognin, is in fact a very suitable match for even the most hardcore of socially aware elderly relatives. But you and I would be wrong. even the most hardcore of socially aware elderly relatives, but you and I would be wrong. For the Habsburgs, who have ruled great swathes of Central Europe almost since the Ottomans threatened the continent, the only people they want to marry are other ruling families. Simple. Bourbons, Saxico-Burgs, Hohenzollerns, Romanovs, they'll do. Not not the Chotex the trouble was Franz Ferdinand was madly in love in 1900 he wrote to his uncle he said his relationship with Sophie was something quote on which depends the whole of my future existence my happiness my peace and my contentment I can and will never marry anyone else, for it repels me,

and I am unable to tie myself to another without love, making her and myself unhappy, while my heart belongs and will always belong to the Countess. Regarding the belief which your Majesty does deign to express, that my marriage will harm the monarchy, I humbly beg to point out that this very marriage, by turning me back into a happy man who enjoys his work and devotes his full strength to general welfare, will enable me to discharge my duties to the monarchy much better than if I live out my life as an unhappy, lonely man devoured by longings. I ask your majesty to believe that I am striving only to do my best in a difficult situation, but to this end I must have a chance to feel happy, which is why I beg your majesty for the There's an insinuation here, I think there's an undercurrent,

that he also might do something drastic, perhaps even kill himself. Well, that would clearly be absolutely unsustainable. You can't have two heirs to the Habsburg monarchy killing themselves. perhaps even kill himself. Well, that would clearly be absolutely unsustainable. You can't have two heirs to the Habsburg monarchy killing themselves. Despite privately confiding that he thought Franz Ferdinand's behaviour was, quote, monstrous and utterly unthinkable, the emperor reluctantly conceded. On the 28th of June 1900, note the date, Franz Ferdinand arrived at the Hofburg Palace. There in the Privy Council chamber, in front of courtiers and parliamentarians and priests and generals and diplomats, the Emperor read out his declaration. Inspired by the wish to give my nephew new proof of my special love, I have consented to his marriage with Countess Sophie Chotek.

The Countess descends, it is true, from noble lineage, but her family is not one of those, according to the customs of our house, we regard as our equals. As only women from equal houses can be regarded as equal in birth, this marriage must be regarded in the light of a morganatic marriage, and the children which with God's blessing will spring from it cannot be given the rights of members of the imperial house. So they will marry, but she will not be accepted. She will not bear a royal title, and their children

cannot inherit. And so this was agreed, it was agreed in 1900 and they got married in 1900. And until we get to the assassination point, they really did live happily ever after. But what you had here was the heir to the throne with a wife who was not equal and therefore could not share in his duties as heir to the throne. The emperor didn't attend the marriage. He was off with his mistress, believe it or not, but he sent a telegram confirming that her style of address, that she would never be a Habsburg empress. Despite that, Franz Ferdinand describes the marriage as the most beautiful day of our lives. So there was no sitting next to him in a box at the opera. There was no doing any royal visits or anything like that.

She had to stay permanently in the background. And she was constantly, constantly snubbed by the court. She had a very sort of calm, aristocratic air. She could ride through this. Franz Ferdinand himself could not. He just got angrier and angrier. And he kept away from court. And really, he kept away from his uncle, the emperor. And it caused a lot of tension between them. Franz Ferdinand chafed as heir to the throne. When he was younger, he travelled the world. He'd seen America. He'd seen how America

was run with lots of states that looked up to the government in Washington. And he thought about the Habsburg Empire made up of an awful lot of diverse religions and cultures. You know, you had Catholics and Muslims and Protestants, and you really had to try and make the empire work. They're all fighting against each other, really wanting to be in charge, particularly countries like Hungary. They wanted their fair share. And Franz Ferdinand could see that if he didn't start thinking about how to give them a fair share in ruling, they're all going to rebel and all hell is going to break out. So he had a plan of trying to make it a United States of Europe. Franz Ferdinand was also desperately trying to restrain one particular man

who was hell-bent not on uniting various states, but in fighting them. That's Konrad von Hötzendorf. He was chief of staff of the Austrian army. And he was, by the way, enmeshed in his own bizarre, desperate psychodrama. He was having an affair with a married woman. And he thought that if he could win eternal fame on the battlefield, the legal niceties of her being married or divorced would be swept aside and he could get his girl. And that's one of the reasons he constantly, constantly was trying to go to war with Serbia and it was Franz Ferdinand who was the restraining influence. If Austria went to war with Serbia, Serbia would appeal to its Russian ally

and if Russia was involved there'd be a general European war. Franz Ferdinand once said, what would be the point of fighting Russia? Not even Napoleon could succeed. And even if we beat Russia, which to my mind is totally out of the question, a victory like that would still be the greatest tragedy for the Austrian monarchy. On another occasion, he warned the foreign minister, don't ever let yourself be influenced by Conrad. Not one iota of support for any of his yappings at the emperor. Naturally, he wants every possible war. Let's not play Balkan warriors. Let's not stoop to hooliganism.

It would be unforgivable, insane, to start a war that would pit us against Russia. Franz Ferdinand talking sense there. And yet, only that very week, that week in 1914, on the 22nd of June, Conrad was at it again. He warned Austria's foreign minister that enemies surrounded the empire. Survival was at stake.

Bold action, no matter what the price was needed. He said, quote, a great sacrifice would save the Habsburg throne. All Conrad needed was a reason, a pretext to launch his war. So, Franz Ferdinand, one of the most important men in Europe, responsible for straining the more bellicose elements of the Austro-Hungarian hierarchy, he's now heading off to the most dangerous province of his empire. Why is he doing that? Well, it was not an official visit. He was going there as an observer of the military manoeuvres that were going on in the hills above Sarajevo. He was the Inspector General of the Army. He didn't have to go.

He went at the request of the Emperor. Even then, he was still just going to watch the manoeuvres. The decision to add on a trip into Sarajevo itself has always been a bit of a mystery. Everyone knew it was a dangerous place. In 1910, a Bosnian student had tried to kill the Austrian government. He'd fired five shots at him, all of which missed. In 1912, a minister in the next-door province of Croatia had been killed by an assassin with links to the Black Hand. In 1913, the governor of Croatia had been shot.

Bosnia was a hard place to rule. The Austrians had suspended its parliament. They'd banned Serbian propaganda, they'd censored the press. The government repeatedly requested more troops. And that was the same governor who was now insisting on Franz Ferdinand visiting. Others said that it would be too risky, but it was the governor that won out. On the 17th of February, 1914, Franz Ferdinand and his team agreed to a short Sarajevo visit. The governor somehow seems to think it would sort of bolster his regime in the province. Now, the date chosen for that visit is especially bonkers, 28th of June. The manoeuvres finished on the 27th. The governor insisted it must be done by the 29th because the province needed to be clear for the start of the spa season on the 1st

of July. Don't ask me, I don't know. The date was set for the 28th, which as the governor failed to mention, weirdly, is a huge day for the Serbs. It's called Vyvovdan. It's a Serbian national holiday, and it marks the 1389 Battle of Kosovo, when the Serbs were obliterated by the Turks. It marks the beginning of centuries of occupation. It's a day on which every Serb renews their vows to fight for national self-determination. And so to top it all off, unlike the visit of his emperor, they wouldn't deploy any soldiers onto the streets of Sarajevo. There were 22,000 soldiers a couple of miles out of the capital.

They'd been there for the manoeuvres. And when the commanding general had offered them to the governor, he was angrily rebuffed. It would offend the citizens, apparently, of Sarajevo to line the streets with soldiers. When the chief of police of Sarajevo said he was worried about security, the governor got angry with him too. He said it was none of your business. And he was told, you see phantoms everywhere.

In the end, only 35 people were arrested for possible intrigue. Not one person was placed under observation. One general commented that the security for the visit was in the hands of God. There were warnings, there was rumours, gossip. The Foreign Office, the Ambassador in Belgrade, the Austrian Military Intelligence, they all warned of assassination plots. The Governor ignored them all. It's not surprising this has been fertile ground for conspiracy theories, given the stupendous, unforgivable, personal, individual failure of the governor. To top it all off, Franz Ferdinand seemed to have a sense of the danger.

In May, he told his nephew that he would soon be murdered. He repeatedly tried to cancel a trip to Bosnia. He said he was worried about the emperor's health. On June the 7th, he asked the emperor to be allowed to cancel, saying the heat would be bad for his own health, his own lungs. The emperor told him he wanted him to go. It amounted to an imperial order. And perhaps that's why Sophie went too. She told the priest that if there was danger to be faced, she would face it by his side. His wife, well, as I've said, it was a very happy marriage. And she was originally just going along as moral support, as company, nothing more than that. And so what happened was Franz Joseph thought, well, this is going to be a very good idea for the empire.

I'll say yes to Sophie being allowed to be sitting next to Franz Ferdinand in a car and standing with him at social engagements. So it wasn't planned that way, but that's how it came about. And in fact, while Franz Ferdinand was up in the hills above Sarajevo, watching the manoeuvres, Sophie was around Sarajevo, visiting churches and orphanages, doing all the things you would expect of royalty today, giving out money, patting children royalty today, giving out money, patting children on heads, giving out sweets, really making a huge success of what she probably would have done when she was Empress. Sophie herself, having done her visits around Sarajevo, had found the whole community very warm and accepting of them. they felt much safer at the end of the visit than they had at the beginning. And in fact, Sophie said to a member of the clergy at a dinner the night before they did their visit

to Sarajevo, she said to them how much they had enjoyed themselves in Sarajevo and how welcome they had felt. So by the time we get to the morning of Sunday, the 28th of June, they're feeling pretty OK and pretty secure. I cannot prove, but I think one of the reasons Sophie was particularly keen on going with Franz Ferdinand was that there was a sort of feeling of honour amongst assassins back at the beginning of the 20th century. And they didn't shoot a woman. They wouldn't shoot women. They wouldn't shoot children. So Sophie probably had in the back of her mind the fact that if she sat next to Franz Ferdinand in that car, he would be safer. And that's exactly what she did.

So that's one of the reasons she was there, sitting there next to him. That morning, Franz Ferdinand had put on lucky charms under his uniform to keep himself safe. And the final poignant detail, perhaps, is that the 28th of June was the anniversary of that day in Vienna when they'd had permission to marry. They'd tied the knot just a couple of days later. Reflecting on it in the days before, Sophie had said,

it will be 14 years since I married his imperial and royal highness. I wish I could relive every single day again. Franz Ferdinand remarked he'd do many things differently if he had his time again. But if I had to marry again, I would do what I have done without change. So it is, we're getting up to 10.42, just before quarter to 11, that fateful day. Let's get back to the town hall in Sarajevo.

We've got Sophie. She's finishing up her meeting with the wives upstairs in the town hall. The men below have thrashed out a plan. Astonishingly, the world historic incompetent Bosnian governor refused to call out the garrison. So he hadn't used the garrison initially. He then, even following the bomb, had not paused the day's events to call out the garrison and line the streets. And the reason he gave was that they didn't have the right ceremonial gear, so it wouldn't look right. He also refused to use the police to enforce a curfew to clear the streets. Franz Ferdinand gave in. What they'd agreed is that they would cancel the trip to the National Museum. They would drive straight to the hospital,

down the same street on which he'd almost been killed. The chief of police was meant to brief the drivers. In all the panic and the confusion, the chief of police did not do so. Perhaps he forgot. The drivers didn't know the plan had been changed. Franz Ferdinand is leaving the building now in 1914. And he murmurs, maybe we'll get more bombs today.

He's mostly worried about Sophie's safety, it seems. Sophie comes back down the stairs to Franz Ferdinand and he says to her, I'd like you to go on to our next destination, but not travel in the same car as me. She of course says, Franzi, I'm going with you. And there was no talking her out of that. Okay. We are just before 1045 now on June the 18th, 1914. They are walking down the steps of the town hall into the vehicles. The drivers have not been informed of the change of route. The royal couple enter the vehicle, their vehicle, from opposite sides. Count Harach, the car's owner, decides to stand on the running

board. He was planning on shielding the archduke from any assassin with his own body if they did run into trouble. Off goes the car. 110 years ago. Almost immediately they actually pass another member of the assassination squad. He's called Trifco Grabez. He bottles it, does absolutely nothing. The car accelerates down the Apple Quay. It's only a few hundred metres,

and around about now they reach the point where the Latin Bridge, it's called, crosses the river. The car slows. The driver turns the wheel to the right to take the car up Franz Joseph Strasser, named after the emperor with whom the couple had such a fraught relationship. On the corner of Franz Joseph Strasser is Moritz Schiller's delicatessen. And outside that shop is 19-year-old would-be assassin, Gavrilo Princip. He'd wandered there after the failed attempt earlier. The Root of the Royal Party bizarre, had been published in the press. He was certain the itinerary would have been changed,

but he thought he'd put himself on the return route just in case. He'd bumped into an acquaintance, he'd been chatting to him, he'd been passing time. And suddenly, the cars pulled into view. The first car drove right past him. The second car contained the royal couple. Now, even then, all was not lost. Even then, bloodshed could have been avoided. What condemned the archduke and his wife was one last decision by, yes,

the gigantically incompetent governor of Bosnia-Portović. Riding in the royal vehicle, he leaned forward when they made that right-hand turn and shouted at the driver, what is this? This is the wrong way. We're supposed to take the apple key. This is history's heroes. People with purpose, brave ideas, and the courage to stand alone, people with purpose, brave ideas and the courage to stand alone, including a pioneering surgeon who rebuilt the shattered faces of soldiers in the First World War. You know, he would look at these men and he would say, don't worry, Sonny, you'll have as good a face as any of us when I'm done with you.

Join me, Alex von Tunzelman, for History's Heroes. Subscribe to History's Heroes wherever you get your podcasts. The driver had not been told about the change of plan. He applied the brakes. The vehicle came to a complete stop. It took a second or two for the driver to then wrestle the gears into reverse. The open-top car was motionless on the street, five feet away from Gavrilo Princip.

He said later, I recognised the heir apparent, but as I saw a lady was sitting next to him, I reflected for a moment whether I should shoot or not. If only his warped sense of gallantry had stayed his arm. It didn't. He raised his pistol. It was a Belgian-made Browning.

32 calibre, meaning it fires a bullet of 0.32 of an inch, maybe a third of an inch in diameter. He squeezed the trigger. The firing pin stabbed into the back of the cartridge, igniting the powder that had propelled the bullet down the trigger. The firing pin stabbed into the back of the cartridge, igniting the powder that had propelled the bullet down the barrel. The spent cartridge is ejected. A new bullet pulled into the chamber and a firing pin rearmed. He squeezed it again. He could not recall later how many rounds he fired. He said he was too excited. One witness said he had three shots. At this point, Sophie turns to Franz Ferdinand and says, what has happened to you? And then she slumps into his lap.

He looks at her and he says, Sophie, Sophie, don't die. Live for our children. One bullet had hit the archduke in the neck. Another one had hit the duchess in the neck. Another one had hit the Duchess in the abdomen. I don't think I've ever seen a more astonishing, arresting object in a museum than Franz Ferdinand's blood-stained tunic. The shoulder cut away as his retainers tried to ascertain the seriousness of his wound, Retainers try to ascertain the seriousness of his wound, keep him alive.

It's pale blue. It's got its rust-coloured stains. It's there in Vienna, in the military museum in Vienna. It's like the first atom that splits in a chain reaction that led to war. Princip is immediately surrounded, beaten down. He may have tried to use the pistol on himself, but it was wrenched out of his hand. He does manage to swallow the cyanide, but it doesn't work, and he's going to vomit and foam at the mouth like his comrade.

He's hauled off to prison. As for the royal couple, let's hear from Sue. Potiorik, the governor general, instructs the driver of the car to turn round and go over the nearest bridge and take them to Poti Orek's residence, which is the Muslim town hall known as the Konak. So that's probably a five minute drive away. at the CONAC and at this point they have to lift the bodies, bleeding bodies at this point, out of the car, up a flight of stairs, through a huge hall and up another huge flight of stairs before they can place Franz Ferdinand on a couch and Sophie on a bed. They're all very confident at this point that Sophie has only fainted so Franz Ferdinand gets the most attention. He's spurting blood,

unfortunately, from his mouth and is unable to say anything. His closest aide begs him to just give him a message for the children and Franz Ferdinand is incapable of doing that. He dies on the sofa. They then turn their attention to Sophie and realise that she's been dead for quite some time. She actually died in the car. So around now, in 1914, Sophie dies. Franz Ferdinand will cling on for a few more minutes. Slightly later that Sunday, a telegram arrives for the Austrian Emperor. It reads, stunned and deeply shaken by the incomprehensible, I am brokenhearted to inform you that his imperial highness and her highness were hit by shots from a dastardly assassin's hand and badly wounded. It goes on to conclude, their highnesses passed away after a few

minutes without having regained consciousness. The old emperor closed his eyes. Was he thinking about his wife who'd lost an assassin's blade? Was he thinking about his son who'd died violently? Was he thinking about the perils that lay in the immediate future? No, apparently not. He said, horrible. The almighty does not allow himself to be challenged with impunity. A higher power has restored the old order that I unfortunately was unable to uphold. So his immediate reaction is that God allowed the assassin's bullet to find the royal couple in revenge for their morganatic, inappropriate marriage. In fact, later he expressed almost some pleasure with the news. in revenge for their morganatic, inappropriate marriage. In fact, later he expressed almost some pleasure with the news.

He admitted to his daughter, for me, it's one great worry less. Little did he know. Well, everyone, that's the story of one day in Sarajevo. Austria did indeed see it as pretext for war. Conrad got his invasion of Serbia, although certainly not with the outcome he hoped for the war that he believed would save the empire condemned it

Russia did come to Serbia's aid Germany in return decided to back Austria and went to war with Russia and its ally France to hit at France Germany marched through Belgium, which brought Britain in on the French, Belgian and Russian side. It was a world war. Now, the consequences of that war endure.

Whether you're looking at Russia, you look at the Middle East, look at the Balkans, we're still living in that world, brought into being as Princip squeezed that trigger. As I said in the show notes, you can hear exactly how the assassination tipped the world into war, but I'm going to leave it here for this one. Thank you very much for listening. This is History's Heroes. People with purpose, brave ideas, and the courage to stand alone.

Including a pioneering surgeon who rebuilt the shattered faces of soldiers in the First World War. You know, he would look at these men and he would say, don't worry, Sonny, you'll have as good a face as any of us when I'm done with you. Join me, Alex von Tunzelman, for History's Heroes. Subscribe to History's Heroes wherever you get your podcasts.