• DOI:10.1086/675880
• Corpus ID: 143481172

The Great War and the Forgotten Realm: The Habsburg Monarchy and the First World War*

@article{Deak2014TheGW,
  title={The Great War and the Forgotten Realm: The Habsburg Monarchy and the First World War*},
  author={John Christopher Deak},
  journal={The Journal of Modern History},
  year={2014},
  volume={86},
  pages={336 - 380}
}

• J. Deak
• Published 28 May 2014
• History
• The Journal of Modern History

On June 28, 1914, Count Harrach’s Gräf and Stift Double Phaeton, a sporty thirty-two horsepower convertible, almost took a wrong turn from the Appel Quay along the river Miljacka. It was the third automobile in a motorcade, transporting Archduke Franz Ferdinand through the streets of Sarajevo. As the General Inspector of the Combined Armed Forces of Austria-Hungary, he had been observing field maneuvers in Bosnia-Herzegovina; a few public appearances in Sarajevo would finish off his trip. His wife Duchess Sophie accompanied him— June 28 was their fourteenth wedding anniversary. She sat in the car beside him, along with the military governor of Bosnia-Herzegovina, Feldzeugmarschall Oskar Potiorek, as the car came to a halt. The first two cars in the motorcade had turned right from the quay onto Franz Josef Street, following their original itinerary. But the itinerary had been changed after a failed assassination attempt against the presumptive heir earlier that morning. No one told the drivers. As the first two cars turned onto Franz Josef Street, Franz Ferdinand’s driver made to do likewise. Potiorek ordered him to stop and continue down the Appel Quay, the fastest route to their new destination. The car came to a halt at the corner, right in front of Schiller’s Delicatessen, where a member of the assassination team, Gavrilo Princip, was milling about, ruminating on his group’s failed attempt in the morning. Now was Princip’s chance: as the archduke’s car moved slowly back onto the Appel Quay, Princip could not believe his eyes. His prey was directly in front of him, a sitting duck. Princip had no time, or space, to break the percussion cap on his bomb. He stepped out onto the pavement, drew his pistol, and fired two shots toward the