The Black Hand

The Black Hand: Serbian Nationalist Group and the Assassination of Archduke John C. McKnight

Austria-Hungarian Empire

Brief Background Information Birth of the AustriaHungarian Empire • A monarchial union between the crowns of the Austria empire and the Kingdom of Hungary. – Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867

• Two capitals – Vienna, Austria – Budapest, Hungary

• The empire consisted of many different nationalities, which combined with the difficulty of ruling such a large area and the linguistic challenges

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Linguistic distribution of Austria–Hungary

German 24% Hungarian 20% Czech 13% Polish 10% Ruthenian 8% Romanian 6% Croat 5% Slovak 4% Serb 4% Slovene 3% Italian 3%

Multi-national and ethnic empire Different Nationalities and Ethnicities • Serbian • Croatian • Bosnian • Romanian • German • Czech • Slovakian • Slovenian • Hungarian • Polish • Italian • Ukrainians

What was the Black Hand? • The Black Hand was officially known as “Unification or Death” and was a secret society that pushed for a PanSlavic movement. • It originated in the Kingdom of Serbia in the early 20th century. • The formation of the Black Hand emerged from a former organization called the Narodna Odbrana

Origins of the Black Hand

• Formed after the annexation of Bosnia-Herzegovina by AustriaHungary in 1908. • October 8, 1908 – Many Serbian men, some of ranking status came together to form this semi-secret society.

Narodna Odbrana

• The name actually means “National Defense.” • Their goal was to promote PanSlavism by recruiting young men and to train them as partisans for a war between Serbia and Austria. • They were able to develop satellite groups in many other areas of the Balkans. – Slovenia – Bosnia – Herzegovina

• Austrian government put a stop to their tactics in 1909 by force, but they continued to use Anti-Austrian

The Birth of the Black Hand

•In May 1911, ten men created the secret society called “The Black Hand.” •Of these men most were involved with the state of Serbia… •Colonel Dragutin Dimitrijevic (chief of intelligence) •Mayor Voja Tankosic •Milan Cigonovic

•Roughly 2,500

I. Purpose and Name

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Article 1. For the purpose of realising the national ideals - the Unification of Serbdom - an organization is hereby created, whose members may be any Serbian irrespective of sex, religion, place or birth, as well as anybody else who will sincerely serve this idea.

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Article 2. The organisation gives priority to the revolutionary struggle rather than relies on cultural striving, therefore its institution is an absolutely secret one for wider circles.

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Article 3. The organization bears the name: "Ujedinjenje ili Smrt".

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Article 4. In order to carry into effect its task the organization will do the following things:

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(1) Following the character of its raison d etre it will exercise its influence over all the official factors in Serbia - which is the Piemont of Serbdom - as also over all the strata of the State and over the entire social life in it:

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(2) It will carry out a revolutionary organisation in all the territories where Serbians are living:

Motivations • “Greater Serbia” – The main objective of the Black Hand was the creation, by means of violence, of a Greater Serbia. Its stated aim was: "To realize the national ideal, the unification of all Serbs. This organisation prefers terrorist action to cultural activities; it will therefore remain secret.“ •

Borijove Jevtic, was a member of the Black Hand group in Serbia in 1914. “How dared Franz Ferdinand, not only the representative of the oppressor but in his own person an arrogant tyrant, enter Sarajevo on that day? Such an entry was a studied insult. 28 June is a date engraved deeply in the heart of every Serb, so that day has a name of its own. It is called vidounan. It is the day on which the old Serbian kingdom was conquered by the Turks at the battle of Amselfelde in 1389. That was no day for Franz Ferdinand, the new oppressor, to venture to the very doors of Serbia for a display of the force of arms which kept us beneath his heel. Our decision

The Black Hand Oath • "I (the Christian name and surname of the joining member), by entering into the organisation "Unification or Death", do hereby swear by the Sun which shineth upon me, by the Earth which feedeth me, by God, by the blood of my forefathers, by my honour and by my life, that from this moment onward and until my death, I shall faithfully serve the task of this organisation and that I shall at all times be prepared to bear for it any sacrifice. I further swear by God, by my honour and by my life, that I shall unconditionally carry into effect all its orders and

TERRORISM AND ETHNIC CONFLICT • Building Blocks of Ethnic Conflict – Language • Diversity of languages in the Balkans

– Blood • Pan-Slavism – Unity of all Slavic people

– Common Shared History • Oppression from AustriaHungarian Empire

– Nationality • Territories of BosniaHerzegovina and other Slavic areas occupied by the Austria-Hungarian Empire

• These building blocks led to the development of ethnocentric nationalism among the Serbian people.

• Terrorism? – To achieve a certain goal – Types depend on that goal

• Form of Terrorism? – State-based – Ethnocentric Nationalist

The Spark that ignited the “Powder Keg of Europe” and led to WWI: The Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdninand

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hE855