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They were, therefore, able to establish underground revolutionary networks in several countries, including Serbia and Bosnia. The members of Black Hand often held well-placed positions in the military and government.

#Man who assassinated franz ferdinand free

Black Hand’s goals were to unite all ethnic Serbs and form a southern Slavic federation in Eastern Europe that would be free from Austrian rule entirely. The Serbian nationalists of Black Hand were angered by what they saw as an aggressive extension of Austrian power and an attempt to limit Serbia’s own influence in the Balkans. It was comprised of dissenters who deeply resented that the Serbian government had allowed Austria-Hungary to annex Bosnia-Herzegovina - and as a Bosnian Serb, Princip was incensed. The Black Hand was a secret society founded in March of 1911. Wikimedia Commons The Black Hand assisted a group of conspirators including Gavrilo Princip, right, in assassinating Archduke Franz Ferdinand. Shortly thereafter, the young Princip came into contact with a group that would turn his ideas into actions: the Black Hand. This nationalist sentiment garnered support throughout the Balkans. Princip fervently believed that Serbia, as the free part of the south Slavs, was obligated to help unify the southern Slavic peoples as an independent nation. The southern Slavic states yearned for independence from the Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian Empires, which had long dominated the region. It was a tumultuous time in southeastern Europe’s history as Gavrilo Princip grew up. Princip might have endured a similar fate as his laboring parents had he not been exposed to ideas of socialism and anarchism while at school in Sarajevo, where he mingled with like-minded young revolutionaries. As he himself recalled, “wherever I went people took me for a weakling… and I pretended I was a weak person, even though I was not.” His unimpressive stature is thought to have fueled his determination to prove himself through some noteworthy act. Though he was the only one of his parents’ children to survive to adulthood, Princip was a small and sickly boy. Wikimedia Commons Gavrilo Princip’s prison photo, taken after the 19-year old had killed the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne.