WWI: The French Connection

Because the Archduke Franz Ferdinand and Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg, had been married morganatically – it was forbidden for Habsburg heir to marry anyone who was not a member of one of the reigning families of Europe – Ferdinand had known that his wife could not be buried with him in the Imperial Crypt in Vienna. He had built a family tomb at his private residence, Schloss Artstetten near the Danube, so that they could be buried together. The last funeral and internment took place on Saturday 4th July: their three children were present.

WWI: Vienna, the day of the funeral

On Friday 3rd July, the open coffins of Franz Ferdinand and Sophie lay in state at the Court Chapel from eight in the morning til noon. It’s reported that fifty thousand people attempted to view the bodies, but most were turned away due to the short period of time allowed.

At 4pm precisely the Emperor Franz Joseph, accompanied by Habsburg Archdukes and Archduchesses, attended a short funeral ceremony in the Court Chapel, which was conducted by Cardinal Gustav Piffl, Archbishop of Vienna.

WWI Liveblogging: Assassination Crisis

On 29th June, Nikola Pašić, Prime Minister of Serbia and Minister for Foreign Affairs, received a telegram from the Serbian Minister at Vienna, M. Yov. M. Yovanovitch:

The Vienna Press asserts that the magisterial enquiry has already shown that the Serajevo outrage was prepared at Belgrade; further, that the whole conspiracy in its wider issues was organised at Belgrade among youth inspired with the Great Serbian idea, and that the Belgrade Press is exciting public opinion by publishing articles about the intolerable conditions prevailing in Bosnia. Press articles of this kind, according to the Vienna Press, are exercising a strong influence, as Serbian newspapers are being smuggled in large quantities into Bosnia.

World War I Liveblogging: Archduke Assassinated

In 1904, Britain and France had signed an agreement – the Entente Cordiale – that did not bind them absolutely to come to each other’s military defence, but was intended as a protection against the Triple Alliance of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy. In 1907, Russia joined the Entente Cordiale.

On 28th June 1914, in Sarajevo, capital and largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina – then part of the Austro-Hungarian empire – the Crown Prince of Austria-Hungary, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, was killed by a Serbian nationalist, Gavrilo Princip.

Gove Goes Forth:

Archduke Franz Ferdinand was visiting Sarajevo because the Empire had annexed Bosnia and Herzegovina from the Ottoman Empire in 1908.

Serbia, which had once been part of the Ottoman Empire, and which had been recognised as an independent nation only in 1878 – but under the domain of the Austro-Hungarian Empire – felt that Bosnia and Herzegovina should have become part of Serbia. Gavrilo Princip, who shot Archduke Ferdinand, was a Serbian nationalist.

From Count Franz von Harrach’s memoirs:

As the car quickly reversed, a thin stream of blood spurted from His Highness’s mouth onto my right check. As I was pulling out my handkerchief to wipe the blood away from his mouth, the Duchess cried out to him, “For God’s sake! What has happened to you?”

At that she slid off the seat and lay on the floor of the car, with her face between his knees.

I had no idea that she too was hit and thought she had simply fainted with fright. Then I heard His Imperial Highness say, “Sophie, Sophie, don’t die. Stay alive for the children!”