The teenager whose shots started World War I

SARAJEVO - Gavrilo Princip, the 19-year-old whose assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo 100 years ago this June 28 sparked World War I, was weedy, bookish and a bit shy.

But the pint-sized peasant boy was also a passionate Serb and Slav nationalist whose rejection because of his size left with him with a point to prove.

"It was difficult to imagine that he, so small, quiet and modest, should have decided to go ahead with such an assassination," contemporary press reports quoted a judge at his trial as saying.

Princip was born in 1894 in the remote mountain village of Obljaj in what is now Bosnia, one of nine children, only three of whom survived.

He left home at 13 to join his brother in Sarajevo where schoolfriend Vaso Cubrilovic remembered him as someone of "restless soul who cannot settle, like he is always haunted."

Biographer Drago Ljubibratic described Princip as "reserved and quiet".

Once he got talking, though "he could be cynical and tough, persistent and even stubborn, very ambitious and a little boastful," he wrote.

A passionate reader, devouring adventure stories by Walter Scott and Alexandre Dumas, he also dabbled in writing poetry but was too shy to show it off.

"Books mean a life to me," he often said.

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Vandalized graffito in Belgrade depicting Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip. PHOTO/AFP

Political awakening

In 1912 Princip moved to Belgrade, where he was swept up in a rising wave of anger against the Austro-Hungarian empire of the Habsburgs ruling large parts of the Balkans at the time.

He tried to join first the Serbian army, then the Black Hand, a Serb nationalist guerrilla movement, but both took one look at him and showed him the door.

For Serbian historian Vladimir Dedijer, this twin rejection was "one of the key motives that pushed him to make an exceptionally brave move that would prove the others that he was their equal."

He managed to join Mlada Bosna ("Young Bosnia"), a group of revolutionaries inspired by the anarchist and communist ideas coming out of Russia and Italy.

In 1914, having received weapons training with other members, the group learned that Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Habsburg throne, would be in Sarajevo.

They decided to take their chance.

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2004 shows Weapons used by Bosnian Serb student Gavrilo Princip. PHOTO/AFP

Nerves of steel

Numbering half a dozen and having spent the evening in Sarajevo's cafes -- Princip even had a date -- the group separated and lined the route of the archduke's motorcade on June 28, 1914.

The first three lost their nerve. A fourth, Nedeljko Cabrinovic, lobbed a bomb at the imperial car, but it bounced off and exploded under the vehicle behind.

Cabrinovic tried to poison himself and jump into a river and amid pandemonium was arrested. But Princip, instead of fleeing, wanted to finish the job.

When Franz Ferdinand's motorcade later took a wrong turn and had to stop and turn round, the 19-year-old -- by chance in just the right place -- stepped up to the archduke's car and shot him and his wife at close range.

The consequences of their deaths were enormous. A month later Europe's system of alliances among the great powers had dragged the continent into the horrors of World War I.

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The Sarajevo City Hall, the last place that Austro-Hungarian heir to the throne Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophia visited before being assassinated in 1914. PHOTO/AFP
 

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The Latin Bridge and the street corner where Gavrilo Princip assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his pregnant wife Sophia. PHOTO/AFP

Unrepentant

At his trial in late 1914, where a judge described Princip as "weak and short with a long yellowish face, Princip was unrepentant about the assassination.

He insisted that he was a "Yugoslav nationalist, aiming for the unification of all Yugoslavs."

Princip escaped the death sentence because he was under 20 -- by less than a month -- and was given 20 years in prison and incarcerated in solitary confinement in jail.

In the harsh conditions, weakened by malnutrition, his tuberculosis worsened. Wasting away to a skeletal wreck, he died in 1918, a few months before the end of the war.

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A military history museum in Vienna displaying the car in which the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne was riding in Sarajevo when he was killed. PHOTO/AFP

Legacy

In 1920, his bones were dug up and brought to Sarajevo where they were given a decent burial and until the Balkan wars of the 1990s he was the city's favourite son.

But after years of bombardment and sniper fire by Serb forces, the people of Sarajevo, now the capital of an independent Bosnia, no longer want to honour him.

Two plaques commemorating Princip were ripped up and a bridge named after him reverted to its pre-1914 name, Latin Bridge, and his memory still splits the Balkans.

Princip is now "whatever person the observer wishes: hero, villain, liberator, terrorist," Tim Butcher, a British historian who has written a book on the assassin, told AFP.

KEY PLAYERS AT THE OUTBREAK OF WORLD WAR I

Here are profiles of the key players at the outbreak of World War I.

In Sarajevo

- Archduke Franz Ferdinand (1863-1914), heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne whose assassination is considered the spark that ignited World War I. He was a Slavophile who favoured a federation to replace the Austro-Hungarian Empire. He was murdered with his wife Sophie in Sarajevo on June 28, 1914, by a Serbian nationalist.

- Gavrilo Princip (1894-1918): The assassin of Archduke Franz Ferdinand on June 28, 1914, the event that sparked World War I. He was a Serbian nationalist student from Bosnia-Herzegovina, which at the time was under Austro-Hungarian domination.

Considered a hero in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia and later in the Yugoslavia of former strongman Tito, Princip died of tuberculosis in prison in April 1918.

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1916: French soldiers moving into attack from their trench during the Verdun battle, eastern France, during the first World War. PHOTO/AFP

In Vienna

- Franz Joseph (1830-1916): The emperor of Austria and king of Hungary, he launched hostilities in World War I by declaring war on Serbia on July 28, 1914, a month after the assassination of his nephew and heir Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo. A member of the Habsburg family and widower of the famous Empress Sisi, he was the senior European sovereign in 1914. He ascended to the Austrian throne after the 1848 revolution and ruled as an absolute monarch before being forced to adopt a more liberal policy. He died during the war, in November 1916.

- Leopold Von Berchtold (1863-1942): Austro-Hungarian foreign minister from 1912 to 1915. He played a key role in escalating tensions following the murder of Archduke Franz Ferdinand.

Emboldened by the assurance of German backing, he ignored reports exonerating the Serbian government from involvement. Von Berchtold also kept the information from Emperor Franz-Joseph, and drafted an ultimatum to Serbia in such terms that it was certain to be rejected. His influence waned as the war dragged on, and he was forced to resign in 1915.

- Franz Conrad von Hoetzendorf (1852-1925): Austro-Hungarian army chief of staff. A determined supporter of the war, von Hoetzendorf did not believe that Russia would intervene if his troops invaded Serbia, and that the conflict would thus remain at a local level.

He hounded the empire's ageing emperor to launch war on Serbia, judging the time right to quell a southern Slavic rebellion and boost the monarchy.

Von Hoetzendorf was replaced in 1917 after Charles I, who was inclined to negotiate peace, ascended to the throne.

In Berlin

- Kaiser Wilhelm II (1859-1941): Last king of Prussia and German emperor who led his country to war in 1914. The grandson of Britain's Queen Victoria, Wilhelm ascended to the German throne in 1888 and forced the resignation of chancellor Otto von Bismarck.

With support from conservative factions, Wilhelm put Germany on an expansionist, colonialist path. He broke traditional alliances with Russia and drew closer to Austria-Hungary and Italy. He was obliged to abdicate on November 9, 1918, and went into exile in The Netherlands.

- Helmuth von Moltke (1848-1916): German army chief of staff from 1906, von Moltke is deemed by historians to carry the heaviest responsibility for the outbreak of war.

Convinced that a conflict with France and Russia was unavoidable, he felt Germany should attack quickly before either they or Britain could mobilise troops.

Von Moltke set in motion a war plan drafted by his predecessor, Alfred von Schlieffen, but was stopped before reaching Paris by the battle of the Marne in September 1914.

That failure cost him his post, and after falling sick, he died in 1916.

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People saluting troops going on the front by train at an undisclosed location in France during the First World War. PHOTO/AFP/Historial de Péronne, Museum of WW1

In Saint Petersburg

- Tsar Nicholas II of Russia (1868-1918): The last Russian tsar, he approved Russia's entry into World War I in August 1914. The Imperial Army's severe casualties -- some 3.3 million -- are often cited as a leading cause of the fall of the Romanov dynasty.

Earlier Nicholas II led his country into a disastrous 1904-05 war with Japan. As the first Russian revolution erupted, the tsar was forced to abdicate in March 1917 and he and his family were executed by Bolsheviks on July 17, 1918.

In Paris

- Raymond Poincare (1860-1934): A conservative French prime minister and president noted for strong anti-German positions. Said to be cold and unimaginative, he came from the Lorraine region claimed by both France and Germany. His 1914 call for a "Sacred Union" of political figures struck a deep chord, and he was a highly respected figure after the war.

- Joseph Joffre (1852-1931): Author of a French war strategy dubbed "Plan XVII" that foresaw a massive drive into Germany, but which failed early in the war. Considered competent but not greatly talented, Joffre nonetheless managed to save the situation during the First Battle of the Marne, and remained the top French commander until 1916.

In London

- Herbert Asquith (1852-1928): Britain's prime minister from 1908 to 1916. A liberal pacifist, Asquith tried to mediate in the brewing conflict in late July 1914, which led Germany to believe Britain would stay out of the conflict.

Asquith was convinced that Berlin had to be kept in check however, in part because it planned to challenge Britain's naval supremacy. The German invasion of neutral Belgium lifted residual hesitation in London and Britain declared war on Germany.

- Horatio Herbert Kitchener (1850-1916): Became British war minister in 1914. Known as an effective organiser, Kitchener managed to quickly raise a massive volunteer army, building the force from 170,000 to 1.3 million by 1915. He was killed a year later when the ship he was on struck a mine off the coast of Scotland.

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French soldiers moving into attack from their trench during the Verdun battle, eastern France in 1916. PHOTO/AFP

In Brussels

- Albert I of Belgium (1875-1934): Belgian king who succeeded his uncle Leopold II in 1909. Albert took an active role in the war alongside France, Britain and Russia on both the military and diplomatic fronts, earning the nickname "The Knight King". A keen mountaineer, Albert died in a climbing accident.

In Belgrade

- Peter I of Serbia (1844-1921): Joined the Foreign Legion in 1870 under the name of Pierre Kara. He ascended to the throne in 1903, but chose to retire due to ill health in June 1914. Peter I passed royal prerogatives to his son, Crown Prince Alexander, who directed Serbian military operations during World War I.

- Nikola Pasic (1845-1926): Serbia's prime minister several times in the late 19th century and again starting in 1912. Pasic was aware of a plot to kill Archduke Franz Ferdinand and warned the Austro-Hungarian government, to no avail.

Pasic's government was then accused of complicity in the attack. Knowing that Vienna was looking for a pretext for military intervention, the Serb premier responded in measured terms to a sharply-worded Austro-Hungarian ultimatum. He nonetheless ensured that Russia would come to his aid if necessary.

After the war, Pasic helped found the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, the future Yugoslavia, and led its government several times.

In Constantinople

- Enver Pacha (1881-1922): A leader of the 1908 Young Turk Revolution, he became a member of the military triumvirate and war minister in 1913, and the architect of the Ottoman-German alliance forged soon after the outbreak of the war. In April 1915 he authorised the deportation of Ottoman Armenians, and he is considered a key figure behind the Armenian and Assyrian genocides. He fled to Germany at the end of the war and was sentenced to death in absentia. He tried to return to Turkey in 1920 but was prevented by Kemal.

AFP