The Black Hand Society
Their moment of glory, so to speak, came about when one Gavrilo Princip inadvertently came face to face with the car carrying Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife, Sophie, in Sarajevo.
On that fateful day, June 28, 1914, Princip and other members of the Black Hand, planned to assassinate the Archduke, but had failed. Only a wrong turn by the car’s driver brought Princip an opportunity to shoot the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne and spark World War I.
Origins of the Black Hand
Unity or Death – the official name of the Black Hand – was an off-shoot of National Defense, an earlier Serbian secret, nationalistic group.
At first National Defense main purpose was to recruit and train saboteurs and fighters for a possible all Slavic war of independence. But when the organization found out that Russia was not eager to enter in a conflict with Austria-Hungary, it turned into something of a cultural organization engaged on education and propaganda.
Enraged, ten of the most radical members of National Defense went on to establish the Black Hand on May 9, 1911. The leader was Colonel Dragutin Dimitrijevic, a fanatical Pan-Slavist, also known as Apis, Colonel Apis, No.6 and The Bee. He headed the Intelligence Department of the Serbian General Staff,
Within three years the Black Hand had over 2,500 members, mostly junior military officers. Many influential civilians such as lawyers, journalists and college professors also joined in.
The group benefited from its association with national defense but its methods, like assassination of political enemies, were far more brutal.
A History of Failure
The Black Hand’s first target for assassination was Austrian Emperor Franz Josef. The attempt failed. Then the group took a stab at General Oskar Potiorek, governor of the provinces of Bosnia-Herzigovnia. It was another futile try.
Then, Dimitrijevic and two other founders of the Black Hand, Milan Ciganovic, a spy in the Serbian secret service, and Major Voja Tankosic, an associate of Dimitrijevic since 1903, decided to kill Franz Ferdinand
Their opportunity came when they found out that Franz Ferdinand was to visit Sarajevo.
A Botched Attempt is Successful
No sooner was the plan for the assassination set in motion that it got into trouble.
The prime minister of Serbia, Nikola Pasic, got intelligence on the plan’s execution and ordered the arrest of Princip and the other two would-be killers, Trifko Grabez and Nedjeiko Cabrinovic. The armed forces and the police refused to carry out the orders.
By then, Austrian intelligence knew of the plan and advised Franz Ferdinand not to go to Sarajevo. He would have none of it and proceeded with his trip.
Princip, Grabez and Cabrinovic, crossed into Bosnia-Herzegovina and placed themselves along the path the Archduke’s car would follow in Sarajevo.
A bomb was thrown at the caravan, but missed the royal couple. After Franz Ferdinand and Sophie, stopped at the hospital to see those wounded in the attempt and visited to Sarajevo’s city hall, Princip got his chance.
The End of the Road for the Black Hand
The terrorist organization got its wishes: war between Serbia and Austro-Hungary materialized and the succession to the throne in Vienna was thrown into chaos.
Austrian intelligence knew who had planned the assassination and demanded that they be arrested and deported to Vienna. Citing Serbian law, Pasic refused.
The result was World War I.
As the war didn’t go well for Serbia, and the government blamed the Black Hand for the hostilities, Prime Minister Pasic decided to punish the leaders, even though the organization had already been scattered.
On December 1916 a number of the leaders of the Black Hand, Dimitrijevic included, were charged for trying to kill Regent Aleksandar Karadjordievic and treason. The charges may have been phony, but after a quick trial they were all sentenced to die by firing squad.
There is some conflicting information as to how long the trials took and when the sentences were carried out. After the executions, the Black Hand was finished.
Over 30 years and another world war later, the Serbian Supreme Court rehabilitated Dimitrijevic and his co-defendants. The new verdict, handled down in 1953, cited lack of evidence for the original 1916 decision.
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References
Wikipedia - Black Hand
Rough Diplomacy - Black Hand Assassins
Fascinating stuff. I loved history as a kid at school and the world wars were both fascinating (born British but having spent time in Japan and having met a few Americans in my life, I'm well aware half the countries in the world have significantly different accounts of what happened and who did what back then).
Regards the start of WW1 in 1914, it was always just a case of some Austrian duke named Franz Ferdinand visited Serbia where he was assassinated by the black hand gang. And that was that. That's all I ever got to hear of them. But their actions started the ball rolling so to speak. And the fact you say they sounded pretty inept - rather like 'keystone' radicals if you like - makes it even crazier, doesn't it? If they'd messed up one more assassination attempt the world could yet have been very different today. Saying that though, it could have turned out worse! We'll just never know.
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