Page - 84 - in THE FIRST WORLD WAR - and the End of the Habsburg Monarchy, 1914 – 1918

84 Bloody Sundays in 1902, 1906 and 1910 had already made it necessary to introduce heightened security measures.169 No real objection was made to the visit from the political or military point of view. Neither Baronet Leon von Biliński, the joint finance minister who was re- sponsible for the Austro-Hungarian central administration of Bosnia and Herzegovina, nor the governor of the two provinces, Oskar Potiorek, who took care of political and military matters on the ground, expressed concern or misgivings at any time. Quite the opposite : they were glad that the Archduke and his wife had decided to make the trip. Here, too, it remained for later generations to conclude that a series of warnings had in fact been given. Numerous expressions of concern had indeed been issued, and reports had been submitted of imminent assassination attempts.170 The vice-president of the Bosnian National Assembly, Jozo Sunarić, had warned of a hostile mood among the Serbs, saying that the visit to Sarajevo appeared to be too risky. The Serbian envoy in Vienna, Jovan Jovanović, had apparently also heard rumours of a planned assassination. The head of the Evidenzbüro, (military intelligence service) of the Imperial and Royal Army, August Urbánski von Ostrymiecz, had also voiced his concern. Even the Arch- duke himself needed reassurance, and ordered his Lord Chamberlain, Baron Karl von Rumerskirch, to consult the Lord Chamberlain of the Emperor, Prince Alfred Mon- tenuovo. He also had objections, although of an entirely different kind : in Montenue- vo’s view, the visit by the Archduke, who would ‘only’ be present as Inspector General of the Troops and not as future Emperor, would not make a good impression on the population with its oriental mindset. For a visit by such a high-ranking individual, they would expect to see an appropriate degree of pomp.171 When the Emperor had visited the province in 1910, there was not only a splendid display, but safety measures were also taken, with double rows of soldiers positioned along the roads through which the monarch drove. The Inspector General of the Troops could not expect the same treat- ment, even though he was entitled to demand it. All in all, numerous objections and misgivings were voiced. Some were only recorded in writing in memoirs after the fact. Overall, any serious assessment of the last journey made by Franz Ferdinand will conclude that it was not without controversy, and that warnings had been given. However, visits by prominent individuals, then as now, are always accompanied by such concerns. Ultimately, the word of the Archduke held sway : ‘[…] I will not be put under a protective glass cover. Our lives are at risk at all times. One simply has to trust in God.’172 In his book Die Spur führt nach Belgrad, (‘The Trail Leads to Belgrade’) Fritz Würthle analysed the warnings and misgivings in terms of their validity and came to the undra- matic conclusion that they did not exceed the usual levels for such occasions. Warnings had been issued before almost every visit, and certainly not for Bosnia alone. Of all the warnings, however, there was none that was sufficiently severe as to clearly state the extent of the risk.