There were two world wars in the 20th century, and of course, most of my friends are relatively familiar with the Second World War because of its wider influence and closer ties to China. But in fact, the Second World War was to some extent a continuation of the First World War, and the outbreak of the First World War was directly related to the assassination of Crown Prince Ferdinand of austria-Hungary. However, if you carefully review the assassination of Ferdinand, you can find that this incident is a series of mistakes between the two parties involved, and some of the details are even very funny. Please see the detailed explanation below for the specific process!
Porous security
In fact, the assassination on June 28, 1914, was originally a very well-planned operation. The operation was planned and carried out by the Mafia, an underground military organization of the Serbs at the time, and the person who directly planned the operation was Danilo Ilic. The reason they wanted to assassinate Ferdinand at that time was also very simple, because the Austro-Hungarian Empire occupied Bosnia and Herzegovina, a major settlement of Serbs, so their purpose was to weaken the Austro-Hungarian empire's rule over Bosnia and Herzegovina by assassinating Ferdinand. In order to ensure the success of the assassination, Illich arranged for a total of six killers to be ambushed on the route of Ferdinand's convoy that had been detected beforehand, and all of them had been trained in the use of bombs and pistols.
Illich, who orchestrated the assassination
In the morning, Ferdinand arrived in Sarajevo by train and was warmly welcomed by the Governor of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Portiolek. Portiolek prepared a convoy of six vehicles to welcome Ferdinand, and according to prior arrangement, the first car in the convoy was supposed to be a member of the convoy dedicated to escorting Ferdinand, and this car also had the role of a guide. But somehow, although the captain of the convoy got into the first car, the other three people who accompanied him were local policemen. The Ferdinands left the station in a third car, an open-top sedan, with Portiolec and a noble military attaché.
The Ferdinand couple sat in an open-top sedan
At that time, the police force in Sarajevo was seriously insufficient, so the local garrison general Abel had proposed that the garrison should be sent out and soldiers should be sent along the streets to ensure safety, but the local government thought that this would damage the face of the Austro-Hungarian royal family, so this plan was rejected. The Sarajevo Police Department was the last to be in charge of security, and it was Sunday, so the police station was able to mobilize only about 60 people. Therefore, it can be said that the local security is already full of loopholes, and it is said that Ilyich's assassination plan must have been successful, but it turned out that Ilyich's people made mistakes one after another.
The assassination of the three killers failed
The nearest killer to the station arranged by Illich was Mohammed Basschi, who had a bomb in his hand, but somehow failed to throw the bomb as the convoy passed. The second killer, Kubrilovich, was more well-equipped, with a pistol in addition to the bomb. But he didn't even throw the bomb out or shoot it in time. Ferdinand unknowingly dodged two assassination attempts.
The assassination culminated in the third killer, Kabrinović. He was lying in ambush on the other side of the Miriats River in Sarajevo, and he had a bomb in his hand, preparing to kill Ferdinand with a bomb as soon as the convoy crossed the river. But this Gabrinović did not know whether he was too excited or how, he forgot that the bomb in his hand would explode after pulling the fuze, and as a result, his bomb was thrown quite accurately, hitting the mobile open top of Ferdinand's vehicle, but it did not explode immediately, but was bounced onto the road, and after a few seconds of swinging, it exploded under the car behind it, and although 16 people were injured, Ferdinand and the car he was riding in were safe and sound.
An official report later showed the route of Ferdinand's convoy and the location of several killers
The hilarious thing happened after Kabrianovic threw the bomb. He was really loyal, and immediately after completing the task, he ate the cyanide poison prepared in advance and jumped into the Miriac River, trying to commit suicide with double insurance. But as a result, the cyanide they bought was put on too long, and at this time, the potency was reduced, and it did not poison him, but only made him vomit for a while. Some time before the assassination, Sarajevo was hot and dry, and the water level of the Miriats River dropped sharply, and it was only 13 centimeters deep that day, and even the ankles were not passed... As a result, Kabrianovich's suicide double insurance did not let him die, and he was quickly dragged ashore by the police and beaten violently.
Ferdinand's car, upon hearing the explosion, fled at maximum speed, and the three killers behind him, Popovich, Princip and Grabets, did not have time to attack, and the well-planned assassination operation ended in failure.
The Governor of Bosnia and Herzegovina assisted in the outbreak of the First World War
So how did Ferdinand die when the six killers worked together failed miserably? In fact, in the end, the credit (sin) of the work (sin) that killed him may be attributed to a series of divine assists by the governor of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Portiolek.
After the first few of them arrived safely at Sarajevo City Hall, Ferdinand was already half dead in fright, but the Sarajevo Municipal Government held a welcoming ceremony as usual, and Mayor Kurigić also cheerfully welcomed the arrival of the Crown Prince. Ferdinand was so angry that he did not wait for him to finish speaking:
Mr. Mayor, I came here to visit and the welcome I got was a bomb, which is outrageous!
But at this time, Crown Princess Sophia barely kept her composure, and she whispered a few words to Ferdinand to calm him down temporarily. When it was Ferdinand's turn to speak, he could not speak at all, because the speech he had written in advance was in the bombed car, waiting for half a day before it arrived. By this time, however, Ferdinand had regained his composure, and he added a few words to his speech to thank the Sarajevo people for their enthusiasm for him after the assassination had failed.
The scene when the Ferdinands left the Sarajevo City Hall
After the welcoming ceremony, Rumelskici, the court official who accompanied Ferdinand, suggested that everyone stay in the city hall of Sarajevo, wait for the army to enter the city, and then proceed to the following journey after the road was guarded along the way. But this proposal made Portiolec furious, and he said excitedly:
Do you think the whole city of Sarajevo is a killer?
At his insistence, Ferdinand decided to continue his journey and first visit the wounded who had been injured in the explosion. Ferdinand and Sophia were still sitting in the third car, and Portiolec was still in the car with them. But because the itinerary was temporarily changed, they arranged for Sarajevo Police Chief Gerd, who was sitting in the first car, to tell the driver of the first car the new route directly in the car, but because of the rush at that time, the police chief forgot to tell the driver that the route had changed.
Principe succeeded in assassinating Ferdinand
Speaking of which, let's go back to Principe, one of the three killers who did not succeed in the operation, who had already withdrawn after confirming that the assassination had failed, because the assassination had failed anyway, and if he did not withdraw, he might have died in vain. But during the evacuation, he suddenly felt hungry, so he walked into a food store on the side of the road and wanted to buy a sandwich to pad first. Of course, he may not have been dead at the time, and wanted to observe in the vicinity to see if it was possible to encounter Ferdinand's convoy again.
Coincidentally, when Ferdinand's convoy reached this intersection, the first car went astray and turned right as originally planned, and then the second car also turned right. The driver of the third car where Ferdinand and Portiolek were working was also ready to turn right, but Portiolek found that something was wrong and immediately asked the driver to stop, let him change the route, and go to see the wounded according to the newly formulated plan. As a result, just as the car stopped, Princip, who was buying a sandwich in the food store, saw it, and he immediately drew his gun and jumped on the pedal of the convertible sedan, firing two shots in a row. The first shot went through Ferdinand's jugular vein, and the second hit Sophia in the abdomen, killing both of them during the hospital visit.
A painting depicting an instant scene of assassination
Portiolek's big assist was finally successful, overpowering the oolong assassination of several killers arranged by Ilyich, successfully killing the Ferdinands and contributing to the "smooth" outbreak of the First World War, which killed 16 million people...