Others in the government and some on the Black Hand Executive Council were not as confident of Russian aid. In all likelihood, they did not anticipate that their little war would mushroom into world war. They had every reason to expect that Russia would side with Serbia. Those involved probably realized that their plot would invite war between Austria and Serbia. The decision to kill the Archduke was apparently initiated by Apis, and not sanctioned by the full Executive Committee. Princip, Cabrinovic' and Grabez were smuggled across the border back into Bosnia via a chain of underground-railroad style contacts. Towards that end, three young Bosnian-Serbs were recruited and trained in bomb throwing and marksmanship. It was also in 1914 that Apis decided that Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the heir-apparent of Austria, should be assassinated. Political murder was one of their well known tools. ![]() By this point, standing up and saying 'no' to the Black Hand was a dangerous act. They engaged in a bitter power struggle over several issues, such as who would control territories Serbia annexed in the Balkan Wars. They thought he did not act aggressively enough towards the Pan-Serb cause. The Black Hand was displeased with Prime minister Nikola Pasic. The Serbian government was fairly well informed of Black Hand activities.įriendly relations had fairly well cooled by 1914. The group held influence over government appointment and policy. ![]() Crown Prince Alexander was an enthusiastic and financial supporter. Black Hand members held important army and government positions. The Black Hand took over the terrorist actions of Narodna Odbrana, and worked deliberately at obscuring any distinctions between the two groups, trading on the prestige and network of the older organization. I swear before God, on my honor and on my life, that I will take all the secrets of this organization into my grave with me." New members swore ".before God, on my honor and my life, that I will execute all missions and commands without question. Members rarely knew much more than the members of their own cell and one superior above them, to ensure that the group's leaders would remain secret. At the top was the ten-member Executive Committee led, more or less, by Colonial Dragutin Dimitrijevic, (also known as Apis ). Above them, was the Central committee in Belgrade. The Black Hand was organized at the grassroots level in 3 to 5-member cells. The Black Hand trained guerillas and saboteurs and arranged political murders. The professed goal of the group was the creation of a Greater Serbia, by use of violence, if necessary. ![]() The seal of their group is reproduced above.īy 1914, there were several hundred members, perhaps as many as 2500. Ten men met on to form Ujedinjenje ili Smrt (Union or Death), also known as The Black Hand. Many members formed a new, and again secret, organization to continue the terrorist actions. From then on, Narodna Odbrana concentrated on education and propaganda within Serbia, trying to fashion itself as a cultural organization. ![]() Russia was not ready to stand fully behind Serbia should things come to a showdown, so Belgrade was grudgingly forced to comply. Narodna Odbrana's work had been so effective that in 1909 a furious Austria pressured the Serbian government to put a stop to their anti-Austrian insurrection. The Bosnian group went under the name Mlada Bosna - Young Bosnia. Satellite groups were formed in Slovinia, Bosnia, Herzegovina and Istria. They also undertook anti-Austrian propaganda and organized spies and saboteurs to operate within the empire's provinces. The purpose of the group was to recruit and train partisans for a possible war between Serbia and Austria. They founded a semi-secret society - Narodna Odbrana (National Defense) which gave Pan-Slavism a focus and an organization. On October 8, 1908, just two days after Austria annexed Bosnia and Herzegovina, many men, some of them ranking Serbian ministers, officials and generals, held a meeting at City Hall in Belgrade. The Black Hand The Black Hand The Secret Serbian Terrorist Society
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