Francis Ferdinand, Archduke Biography

Questions on this topic? Just ask!

World of Criminal Justice on Francis Ferdinand, Archduke

On June 28, 1914, Archduke Francis Ferdinand, heir apparent to the Hapsburg throne of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, was assassinated in Sarajevo, along with his wife, Sophie, and the declaration of World War I became imminent. Francis Ferdinand was Inspector General of the Army and was sent to Bosnia in order to supervise the Hapsburg army's summer maneuvers. Talk of war in Europe had been brewing for months. Since February of that year, Russian, French, German, and English diplomats particularly were meeting to discuss various alliances and annexations in an attempt to reach a peaceful solution to many difficulties arising from a crisis in the Balkans as far back as 1908. The archduke and his wife had arrived in Bosnia only three days previous to their untimely deaths. Following two days of observing the army, he and Sophie went on to the capital of Sarajevo for official functions. Francis Ferdinand had been actively engaged in working to restore Hapsburg relations with Russia, yet not posing any threat to the empire's alliance with Germany. The most pressing concern of the Hapsburgs was the threat to their own power and the stronghold of their multinational empire.

The archduke was born December 18, 1863, the eldest son of the Archduke Charles Louis, brother of the emperor, Francis Joseph. In 1889, when the emperor's son, Rudoph, died, Francis Ferdinand fell into the line of succession, following his father.

But his place was not assured due to his ill health and his controversial desire to marry Sophie, Countess von Chotek, a lady-in-waiting. His younger brother Otto was considered far more likely to succeed to the throne upon the emperor's death. This whole prospect prompted action by Francis Ferdinand, making him determined to retain what he believed was his rightful place as leader. He won both his right to marry Sophie and his right to the throne with the compromise of renouncing the rights of his future children in claiming the throne after him.

For all his careful diplomatic negotiations, he was not cautious enough, perhaps, in realizing the significance of June 28 when he decided to travel so openly in the small parade of official cars that Sunday morning that were to take the archduke and his expectant wife from the train station to a day full of activities. June 28 was the anniversary of the defeat of Serbia in the Battle of Kosovo at the hands of the Ottoman Turks in 1389. Two more battles against the Turks brought defeat twice more, but, in 1831, the Serbs were victorious. When Austria-Hungary annexed Bosnia in 1909 against the will of many Serbians, an underground revolutionary organization, known as the Narodna Odbrana, emerged. It was infiltrated by the Black Hand, the "mafia" of the Serbian underground, and, along with the actual assassin in the crime, Gavrilo Princip, was the organization held responsible for the deaths. Speculation continued into the next century regarding the actual role the Serbian government itself played in the assassination of the archduke which led to World War I less than two months later. The Black Hand was known to have connections to the head of Serbian Military Intelligence, Colonel Apis, only one of many in Serbian power who thought the Serbian cause for independence might be helped by a European war that aided in the breakup of the Austro-Hungarian empire. In fact, the government celebrated the tenth anniversary of the assassination and the outbreak of war, ultimately leading to the formation of the Serbian nation, which caused, in turn, suspicion that the government was behind the plot, either directly or indirectly.