clue was given as to the source, but in Through Thirty Years (i., p. 396) it is
ascribed
to
a
Polish
aristocrat
formerly
on
terms
of
intimacy
with
Francis
Ferdinand and claiming to have learnt the story from Vatican sources, through
the Nunciature in Vienna. Mr. Steed is careful to describe it as " an interesting
hypothesis; it was and could be nothing more."
99
by a man already stricken with a mortal disease. It
may be that the concluding volumes of the German
diplomatic documents or the forthcoming memoirs of
the
Archduke's
secretary,
Count
Polzer-Hoditz,
will
throw some light upon the mystery; but in the mean-
time there is absolutely no evidence which would justify
our accepting the story as authentic.
On the very eve of the war I learned from a sure
source that the day after the murder in Sarajevo the
Archduke's desks at home were searched for certain
documents; and if there were any truth in the legend
of " the Pact of Konopisht," such action would not be
surprising.
But
a
much
simpler
explanation
is
the
desire of the Imperial family to obtain a clue to the Arch-
duke's plans of political reconstruction, and still more
the names of his secret advisers and confidants. As a
matter of fact, nothing compromising was found, and
it is only now that the essential documents are about to
be given to the world.
Other legends also have gathered round the Konopistë
meeting, and it has been alleged that confidential informa-
tion as to what passed there reached the Russian General
Staff, was transmitted by it to Belgrade, and prompted
the conspirators of the " Black Hand " to instigate the
Archduke's
murder.
This
is
obviously
pure
fantasy,
for even if such highly confidential information could
have leaked through to the Russians, it could hardly
have reached St. Petersburg more than a week before
the murder, which allows no time whatever for the
necessary
plans.
Moreover,
it
is
known
that
the
future assassins had already crossed over from Serbia
to Bosnia at least a fortnight before the Konopistë
meeting, and were by that time no longer amenable
to control from the " Black Hand " or from anywhere
All that can be said, then, is that the journalistic
Pouring53 about the " Roses of Konopistë " gave wide
100
publicity and encouraged wild speculation. The know-
ledge that the changed situation in Eastern Europe
must be under discussion led to the assumption that
Francis Ferdinand had propounded a scheme for Serbia's
overthrow, and that William II had promised Germany's
support. Though unsupported by any evidence,1 this
is at least credible, and it was actually believed in
many quarters. The fact that the Archduke left for
Bosnia only a week later seemed to lend colour to the
view, and the manoeuvres which he conducted there
were generally regarded as a rehearsal for the coming
war with Serbia.
1 For indirect evidence to the contrary, see infra, p. 183.
CHAPTER V
THE MURDER OF THE ARCHDUKE
THE Archduke Francis Ferdinand attended the Bosnian
manoeuvres as Inspector-General of the Army, and from
the outset gave to his visit a strictly military character.
But his headquarters were at the little health resort of
Ilidze, some four miles from Sarajevo, and here he was
joined by the Duchess of Hohenberg. Before returning
home it was decided that they should pay an official
visit to Sarajevo, and the day selected for this was
Vidovdan,
or
St.
Vitus's
Day.
This
anniversary
is
specially dear to the Serbian race, for it commemorates
the memorable battle of Kosovo, which in 1389 rang the
death-knell of the Serbian mediaeval Empire, and round
which a whole cycle of legend and ballad poetry has
gathered. After more than five centuries this defeat
had been wiped out by Serbia's victory at Kumanovo
in 1912, but in 1913 the acute tension which produced
the Second Balkan War had prevented any proper
celebration of the day. Thus in 1914 the Serbs were for
the first time in a position to celebrate it in peace and
seeming security, and their kinsmen across the frontier
needed no prompting in order to share in their rejoicings.
It was thus peculiarly unfortunate that this day, of all
days, should have been deliberately selected for the visit
of one who personified a foreign domination and was not
unnaturally regarded as the most formidable obstacle
to Serbian national expansion. It was resented by the
vast majority of Jugoslavs on both sides of the frontier
as a provocation and a challenge, and this feeling must
be taken into account in any estimate of what followed.
102
On the morning, then, of Sunday 28 June, the Arch-
duke and the Duchess were proceeding to the Town Hall
of Sarajevo, when a bomb was thrown at their car,
and falling in the roadway behind it, exploded and
wounded some of the spectators and an officer in the
car that followed. The Archduke entered the Town
Hall in a towering passion, and before the Mayor could
address him, called out, " Mr. Mayor, I come here on a
visit and I get bombs thrown at me. It is- outrageous.
Now you may speak." After the speeches and presenta-
tions the Archduke asked Potiorek whether they should
continue their drive, or whether there were likely to be
more bombs. The Governor and the Chief of Police
expressed the conviction that nothing more could happen,
and that the only alternatives were to go to the Konak *
(only a few hundred yards across the river) or to avoid
the main streets altogether and drive straight to the
Museum. On this the Archduke declared his intention
of first visiting the military hospital to enquire after the
wounded Colonel von Merizii, and then going on to the
Museum. When Count Harrach tried to dissuade him,
Potiorek testily exclaimed: " Do you think that Sarajevo
is full of assassins? " The Duchess having announced
her intention of accompanying her husband, the pair
entered a new car, with General Potiorek inside and
Count Harrach standing on the footboard.
The front car, containing the Chief of Police, drove
along the Appel-Qua
i, but at the Latin Bridge diverged
to the right into a narrow street leading to the main
thoroughfare of the town. The driver of the second car,
in which the Archduke was seated, was a military
chauffeur who did not know Sarajevo, and therefore natur-
ally followed suit. But Potiorek at once made him pull
up, and he was slowly backing on to the embankment,
when shots were fired at very close range by a young
man on the pavement. This was Gavrilo Princip, one
1 The Governor's official residence.
103
of the seven assassins whom we saw to have been armed
for an attempt on the Archduke's life. Orders were
promptly given to drive back to the Konak, which was
reached within a couple of minutes. But even by that
time the Duchess was already dead, and the Archduke,
wounded in the jugular vein, was unconscious when he
was lifted from the car, and expired within a quarter
of an hour, before either doctor or priest could be sum-
moned to his aid. His last murmured words, over-
heard by Harrach, had been " Sophie, live for our
children! "
It appears that Princip fired first at the Archduke
and then, seeing that his shot had gone home, turned
his revolver upon Potiorek. At this moment the Duchess,
realising that something had happened, rose in her seat
to shelter her husband, while simultaneously someone in
the crowd tried to seize the assassin's arm, with the
result that his aim was spoilt and the next shot fatally
wounded the Duchess in the body.
Before we turn to discuss the antecedents and motives
of the assassins and the responsibility of the crime, a
brief reference must be made to the incidents of the
funeral — incidents only less sensational and perplexing
than the tragedy of Sarajevo itself. The bodies were
transported to the Dalmatian coast and thence by sea
to Trieste, and reached Vienna at ten o'clock on the
night of 2 July. The cortège was met at the station by
the new Heir-Apparent, the Archduke Charles, and the
whole officers' corps of the Vienna garrison, and solemnly
escorted to the Chapel of the Hofburg. Already there
was much comment at the choice of so late an hour and
the deliberate avoidance of daylight, and it became
known that the young Archduke by going to the station
had
broken
through
the
arrangements
prescribed
at
Court, and that the Chamberlain, Prince Montenuovo,
had originally intended that the body of the Duchess
should be sent direct to its last resting-place, while only
105
the Archduke's should be admitted to the Hofburg.
This was too much for the old Emperor, and the two
coffins, which were of different size and ornamentation,
were placed together in the chapel, but on different levels;
and as if this distinction were not enough, the full insignia
of the Archduke were placed on his coffin, while on that
of the Duchess were a pair of white gloves and a black
fan — a pointed reminder of her former inferior position
as lady-in-waiting. No wreaths were sent either by the
Emperor or by members of the Imperial family, and until
the foreign Ambassadors brought tributes from their
sovereigns, those sent by the Hohenberg children and
by Countess Lónyay (the former Crown Princess) stood
quite alone.
The funeral service was attended by the Emperor and
conducted by the Cardinal-Archbishop, but the chapel
was tiny, and no opportunity whatever was offered to
the general public to pay their last respects to the Heir-
Apparent. The coffins were left all the afternoon in the
closed chapel, and not till after dusk did the funeral
procession again leave the palace. This time, by way
of protest against such extraordinary procedure, over
a hundred members of the highest Austrian and Hun-
garian aristocracy,1 in gala uniform, but on foot, forced
their way unannounced into the procession at a given
point on the route, and accompanied it as far as the
station. The train left at eleven o'clock, reaching the
little country station of Pöchlarn about one in the morn-
ing. It was as though every conceivable effort had been
made to inconvenience those desirous of attending the
last ceremony, and to keep the public utterly at arms'
length. Feeling was intense against Prince Montenuovo,
as master of ceremonies, and it was widely asserted that
he, as a morganatic offshoot of the House of Habsburg,
was wreaking a petty vengeance upon the woman who,
1
Such
families
as
Liechtenstein,
Schwarzenberg,
Lobkowitz,
Fürstenberg,
Windischgrätz, Hohenlohe, Thurn und Taxis, Széchényi, Zichy, Hoyos, Kinsky,
Ledochowski, Sternberg.
105
but for the hand of an assassin, might perhaps one day
have ceased to be morganatic and attained the rank
of Empress. Yet Francis Joseph, before leaving for
Ischl on 7 July, went out of his way to address an auto-
graph letter to Prince Montenuovo, thanking him for
his faithful services and the care which he had always
taken
to
act
"in
accordance
with
his
Majesty's
intentions."
To the plain man all this seemed to partake of studied
insult to the memory of the dead, while military circles
resented it as "a fanatical attempt to eliminate the dead
Archduke as speedily as possible from the sphere of his
former activity, and if this could be attained, from the
memory
of
his
contemporaries."1
Added
force
was
given to this view by the marked manner in which foreign
royalties were discouraged from attending the funeral2 —
a step which was explained by the fear of further out-
rages, but was really intended by Berchtold to prevent
a personal exchange of views between the Emperor and
other sovereigns, such as would almost certainly have
made for peace in Europe.
As though the very elements had conspired o mark
the unusual tragedy of the occasion, one of the most
terrific thunderstorms of recent years burst over the
Danube at the very moment when the cortège was about
to
leave
Pöchlarn. Torrential rain threw everything
into confusion, the coffins were hastily carried into the
tiny waiting-room, and everyone crowded pell-mell after
them. The heavens were giving their warning of the
wrath to come. At last the storm abated, and in the
first summer dawn the victims of Sarajevo were borne
across the Danube and up the hilly road to Artstetten,
where Francis Ferdina
nd had built his memorial chapel
1
These are the
words of
the
former War
Minister, General
Auffenberg,
(Vesterreichs Höhe und Niedergang, p. 255).
2
Auffenberg quotes " one of our most tried diplomatists " as describing this
as a huge blunder or a sign that war was already being planned " {ibid.).
106
because the wife of his choice was too low-born to rest
in the stifling Habsburg vaults of the Capuchine Church
in Vienna.
The Archduke's decision to visit Bosnia was taken as
early as September 1913,1 and was made by him in his
capacity as Inspector-General of the Army, in consulta-
tion with the military chiefs.2 It" would seem only
natural that he should at least have invited the opinion
of Dr. von Bilinski, the Joint Finance Minister, within
whose competence the two annexed provinces lay. But
in point of fact the latter was altogether ignored, and
first learned of the proposed visit from the Governor,
General Potiorek, who notified the Archduke's desire
that it should follow exclusively military lines. Bilinski
recounts in his memoirs that about this time anonymous
letters, threatening murder and revolution, were being
fairly frequently received both by the Ministers and by
the Archduke, and that he himself, while not taking very
seriously persons who advertised their intentions before-
hand, thought it to be none the less advisable to discuss
precautionary
measures.
He
therefore
instructed
Sarajevo to sound the local authorities* as to their views
on such a visit — with the result that practically all of
them declined responsibility for the consequences. These
reports were duly transmitted to Vienna and to the Court,
but brought down upon Sarajevo a sharp reprimand:
the responsibility of the civil authorities, they were told,
was neither desired nor needed.4
The result was actually to strengthen the Archduke in
1 Conrad, A us Meiner Dienstzeit, ii., p. 445. Francis Ferdinand told Conrad
himself on 16 September, and on 29 September Potiorek informed Conrad of
the Archduke's intention to go as Heir-Apparent and to take his wife with him.
2
On
8
July,
1914,
Count
Tisza,
speaking
Sarajevo Page 14