The Black Hand

The Black Hand: Serbian Nationalist Group and the Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand

John C. McKnight

Austria-Hungarian Empire

Brief Background InformationBirth of the Austria-Hungarian

Empire• A monarchial union between the

crowns of the Austria empire and the Kingdom of Hungary.– Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867

• Two capitals– Vienna, Austria– Budapest, Hungary

• The empire consisted of many different nationalities, which combined with the difficulty of ruling such a large area and the linguistic challenges created many disputes among the different groups.

Linguistic distribution

of Austria–Hungary

– German 24% – Hungarian 20% – Czech 13% – Polish 10% – Ruthenian 8% – Romanian 6% – Croat 5% – Slovak 4% – Serb 4% – Slovene 3% – Italian 3%

Multi-national and ethnic empireDifferent Nationalities and Ethnicities

• Serbian• Croatian• Bosnian • Romanian • German• Czech• Slovakian • Slovenian• Hungarian• Polish• Italian• Ukrainians

What was the Black Hand?

• The Black Hand was officially known as “Unification or Death” and was a secret society that pushed for a Pan-Slavic movement.

• It originated in the Kingdom of Serbia in the early 20th century.

• The formation of the Black Hand emerged from a former organization called the Narodna Odbrana

Origins of the Black Hand

• Formed after the annexation of Bosnia-Herzegovina by Austria-Hungary in 1908.

• October 8, 1908– Many Serbian men, some of ranking status came

together to form this semi-secret society.• The name actually means “National Defense.” • Their goal was to promote Pan-Slavism by

recruiting young men and to train them as partisans for a war between Serbia and Austria.

• They were able to develop satellite groups in many other areas of the Balkans.– Slovenia – Bosnia– Herzegovina

• Austrian government put a stop to their tactics in 1909 by force, but they continued to use Anti-Austrian propaganda and education as tools to create a cultural organization.

Narodna Odbrana

The Birth of the Black Hand

I. Purpose and Name

• Article 1. For the purpose of realising the national ideals - theUnification of Serbdom - an organization is hereby created, whosemembers may be any Serbian irrespective of sex, religion, place orbirth, as well as anybody else who will sincerely serve this idea.

• Article 2. The organisation gives priority to the revolutionary strugglerather than relies on cultural striving, therefore its institution is anabsolutely secret one for wider circles.

• Article 3. The organization bears the name: "Ujedinjenje ili Smrt".

• Article 4. In order to carry into effect its task the organization willdo the following things:

• (1) Following the character of its raison d etre it will exercise itsinfluence over all the official factors in Serbia - which is the Piemontof Serbdom - as also over all the strata of the State and over theentire social life in it:

• (2) It will carry out a revolutionary organisation in all theterritories where Serbians are living:

• (3) Beyond the frontiers, it will fight with all means against allenemies of this idea:

• (4) It will maintain friendly relations with all the States, nations,organisations, and individual persons who sympathise with Serbiaand the Serbian race:

• (5) It will give every assistance to those nations and organisationswho are fighting for their own national liberation and unification.

Pozzi, Henri, Black Hand Over Europe, (Reprint of the 1935 edition), Croatian Information Centre, Zagreb, 1994; consisting of Pozzi, Henri: War Is Coming Again, (translated by Francis J. Mott), 1911.

• In May 1911, ten men created the secret society called “The Black Hand.”•Of these men most were involved with the state of Serbia…

•Colonel Dragutin Dimitrijevic (chief of intelligence)•Mayor Voja Tankosic•Milan Cigonovic

•Roughly 2,500 members by 1914.

Motivations • “Greater Serbia”

– The main objective of the Black Hand was the creation, by means of violence, of a Greater Serbia. Its stated aim was: "To realize the national ideal, the unification of all Serbs. This organisation prefers terrorist action to cultural activities; it will therefore remain secret.“

• Borijove Jevtic, was a member of the Black Hand group in Serbia in 1914.

“How dared Franz Ferdinand, not only the representative of the oppressor but in his own person an arrogant tyrant, enter Sarajevo on that day? Such an entry was a studied insult. 28 June is a date engraved deeply in the heart of every Serb, so that day has a name of its own. It is called vidounan. It is the day on which the old Serbian kingdom was conquered by the Turks at the battle of Amselfelde in 1389. That was no day for Franz Ferdinand, the new oppressor, to venture to the very doors of Serbia for a display of the force of arms which kept us beneath his heel. Our decision was taken almost immediately. Death to the tyrant! “

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/FWWblackhand.htm

The Black Hand Oath• "I (the Christian name and surname of the joining member), by entering

into the organisation "Unification or Death", do hereby swear by the Sunwhich shineth upon me, by the Earth which feedeth me, by God, by theblood of my forefathers, by my honour and by my life, that from thismoment onward and until my death, I shall faithfully serve the task ofthis organisation and that I shall at all times be prepared to bear forit any sacrifice. I further swear by God, by my honour and by my life,that I shall unconditionally carry into effect all its orders andcommands. I further swear by my God, by my honour and by my life, that Ishall keep within myself all the secrets of this organisation and carrythem with me into my grave. May God and my comrades in this organisation be my judges if at any time I should wittingly fail or break this oath!"

Pozzi, Henri, Black Hand Over Europe, (Reprint of the 1935 edition), Croatian Information Centre, Zagreb, 1994; consisting of Pozzi, Henri: War Is Coming Again, (translated by Francis J. Mott), 1911.

TERRORISM AND ETHNIC CONFLICT

• Building Blocks of Ethnic Conflict– Language

• Diversity of languages in the Balkans

– Blood• Pan-Slavism

– Unity of all Slavic people

– Common Shared History• Oppression from Austria-Hungarian

Empire

– Nationality • Territories of Bosnia-Herzegovina and

other Slavic areas occupied by the Austria-Hungarian Empire

• These building blocks led to the development of ethnocentric nationalism among the Serbian people.

• Terrorism?– To achieve a certain

goal– Types depend on that

goal

• Form of Terrorism?– State-based– Ethnocentric

Nationalist

The Spark that ignited the “Powder Keg of Europe” and led to WWI: The Assassination of

Archduke Franz Ferdninand

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hE8552joxfE&feature=related