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Billie Jean the Jelly Bean Billie Jean the Jelly Bean
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Why was Archduke Ferdinand assassinated?

I know that Gavrilo Princip was the assassin, but why did he assassinate Archduke Ferdinand?
I know that it has something to do with Austria-hungary, Russia and Serbia, but right now those are like pieces of a puzzle and i can't put them together to make sense. Can someone please explain why Archduke Ferdinand got assassinated? I need it for an essay

Thanks in advance :)
West Side™ by West Side™
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Briefly, Serbia was considered as part of the Austrian Empire by the Austrians. Serb Nationalists like the Black Hand resented their influence greatly. The Archduke decided against all advice to visit Sarajevo and got himself assassinated along with his wife. Austria was outraged and invaded Serbia BUT the Russians had a treaty with Serbia and struck against the Austrians. Germany had a treaty with Austria so fought back against the Russians. France and Britain had a treaty with Russia so fought back against Germany!
et voila World War 1 !!
I stand corrected - Serbia wanted a pact with Bosnia (inc Sarajevo its capital) Balkan politics is incredibly complicated and remains so to this day!
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thanks! :)

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Other Answers (3)

  • ammianus by ammianus
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    Bosnia was part of the Austrian empire,and had a sizable ethnic Serb population. Many Serbs,both in Serbia and Bosnia,wanted Bosnia to become part of Serbia.Other provinces of the Austrian empire also hda sizable ethnic minorities - Czechs,Poles,and so on - who also wanted independence from Austria.All this contributed to a lot of nationalist tension within the Austrian empire.

    Franz Ferdinand was heir to the Austrian throne.He planned to introduce reforms in the empire that would give many provinces local autonomy,and allow them to choose their own local leaders. As this would have considerably reduced nationalist tension within the empire,and made it less likely that ethnic minorities would want independence of become part of other states,this was unacceptable both to Serbia and Serb nationalists in Bosnia.

    The Serb Secret Police therefore recruited a number of extreme Serb nationalists from within Bosnia.They armed and trained them to assassinate the Archduke.The group was known as the Black Hand Gang,one of them being Gavrilo Princip.They took the opportunity to assassinate Franz Ferdinand when he visited Sarajevo (capital of Bosnia) on 28 June 1914.

    So, Franz Ferdinand was assassinated by Bosnian Serb nationalists,backed by the Serbian Secret Police,because he planned to introduce reforms that would have made it less likely that Bosnian Serbs would want to become part of Serbia.
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  • stabilis by stabilis
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    Many Bosnian Serbs were opposed to Austrian rule in Bosnia , and sought to include the region in a wider Serbian State , A group of disaffected Serbian Nationalists , known as the Black Hand organisation saw the Archdukes visit as the perfect opportunity to strike a political blow against what they saw as their oppressors, Russia was historical the ally of Serbia , and disputes over the region had flared up between Russia and Austria- Hungary on two occasions prior to 1914
    There had been already been several assassination attempts on the life of Franz Ferdinand by disaffected Serbs and the Archduke was well aware or the danger , but his visit was a well publicized event . It was not just the royal heir who paid with his life
    , but his wife who was pregnant with her fourth child was also murdered.
    Serbia and Bosnia were Slavic peoples and wanted an independent `Greater Serbia `
    Montenegro , Serbia and Herzegovina were annexed to Austria - Hungary from Turkey in 1908 and the whole region was discontented with Austrian rule
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  • Tim Campbell by Tim Campbell
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    The Austro-Hungarian Empire annexed Bosnia in the late 19th century. But nationalist Serbians wanted a pan-slavic state that included Bosnia. A "secret organization" from Serbia had a plan to assassinate the Archduke during his visit to Bosnia.

    Source(s):

    http://www.answers.com/topic/archduke-fe…
    http://www.answers.com/topic/gavrilo-pri…
    http://www.answers.com/topic/young-bosni…
    http://www.answers.com/topic/black-hand
    • 2 people rated this as good

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