Seite - 86 - in THE FIRST WORLD WAR - and the End of the Habsburg Monarchy, 1914 – 1918

86 Bloody Sundays nel sent to meet him by Governor Potiorek, Erich Merizzi, advised that a cancellation of the visit at the last minute would be such an insult to the supreme head of the mili- tary and civil administration, and therefore signify such a loss of prestige, that the heir to the throne set his doubts aside. Merizzi had not only argued on objective grounds however, but also because he was particularly friendly with Potiorek, and wanted to make sure that the high-ranking visit would be fully satisfactory.174 And so the heir to the throne and his wife departed from Ilidža by train, and in Sarajevo boarded their own car brought especially for the visit, a Graef & Stift that Count Franz Harrach had provided for Franz Ferdinand, and drove from the station into the city. The first attack occurred on the journey to the city hall when a hand grenade was thrown by Nedeljko Čabrinović. It fell on to the unfolded canopy of the car, either bounced off or was knocked aside in time, and exploded underneath a car driving behind. Merizzi was slightly injured and was brought to hospital. The Archduke appeared angry rather than shocked, and now it was Oskar Potiorek who persuaded him to change his plans. When the initial turmoil had died down, he suggested that they visit the hospital where his adjutant and friend Merizzi was being treated. Franz Ferdinand agreed and left the city hall with his wife and the accompanying party. A chain of events caused the car in which the Archduke was travelling to come to a standstill at the Latin Bridge over the Miljačka River, just where Gavrilo Princip, another of the assassins who were dispersed throughout the city, was sitting. He fired at the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne and Duchess Sophie. Both were fatally wounded.175 That day, 28 June, began like any other, and yet it was not to end the same way. The shots on the Latin Bridge in Sarajevo made world history. Six of the seven assassins standing ready in the city were Bosnian citizens of Serbian nationality, while the sev- enth was a Muslim from Herzegovina. They had been influenced and radicalised by the Greater Serbia movement that had begun to be known as ‘Mlada Bosna’ (‘Young Bosnia’), and supported its goal of destroying the Habsburg Monarchy in order to create a Yugoslav state. They referred to themselves as ‘Yugoslav nationalists’,176 and claimed that they had wanted to set an example. They were also willing to sacrifice their own lives. Čabrinović and Princip swallowed potassium cyanide that had been given to them as a precautionary measure by their contacts in Serbia. However, the poison failed to take full effect, and only caused them to vomit. Their terrorist act was intended as an expression of protest. Some members of the group had recoiled at the last minute, saying that murder was an inappropriate way of bringing a protest to public attention. This was of no interest to its younger members, who were keen to go through with the plan. However, they would not have known that their attack and, above all, the shots fired by Gavrilo Princip would trigger a world war and indeed herald the downfall of the Habsburg Empire. They were inspired by Mazzini, Marx, Bakunin, Nietzsche and others, had at times studied in Belgrade and had ardently participated in the discussion