On December 25-27 1970, a New Age festival known as "The Happening" took place in Laguna canyon, in an area known as Sycamore Flats near El Toro Road. Although it wouldn't rival Woodstock, the August, 1969 rock and peace festival that became world famous, the Happening aka The Great Happening aka The Christmas Happening, had its own unique impact and was attended by about 25,000 people. The event happened in a more organic way than Woodstock and it paled in size and scope, but the Laguna Happening echoed the same sentiments of peace and free love as its New York brother, and it drew a stream of hippies, peaceniks and potheads, and flower children. It also expanded many minds, thanks in part to LSD that literally rained down from the sky -- Orange Sunshine that was thrown out of a passing small airplane. Unfortunately the event drew unwanted attention as well: at 10 a.m. on the Happening's third day the police, who had been actively seizing drugs at the entrance to the bowl, finally had enough. Over 450 officers moved in and forcibly shut down the event. They then bulldozed the venue. Few recognized it at the time, but an era in Laguna Beach history had just come to an end.
This home movie style footage was shot by filmmaker Roger Wells on a 16mm silent movie camera, and was recently transferred to 4k by Periscope Film. Until now, this footage has never been publicly seen. It is presented here for the first time.
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Hundreds gathered on New York City’s Pearl Street one afternoon in September 1882 to watch an entire city block come to life. Inside a building on Pearl Street stood Thomas Edison, the famous inventor known as “The Wizard of Menlo Park” (for his world-renowned laboratory). Edison toggled a switch, and electricity surged from his new Pearl Street generation plant through cables leading to businesses and homes throughout lower Manhattan. On Pearl Street, 400 of Thomas Edison’s incandescent light bulbs came to life.
The New Yorkers watching that day could see the future.
For decades, many had tried to develop an electric lamp that could last long enough to be useful. On October 21, 1879, Edison had his “Eureka moment.” Experimenting with carbon filaments, he created a light bulb that burned for a continuous 13.5 hours, far longer than any previous effort and the key event that led to Pearl Street three years later.
It would be another three years before Edison could build the infrastructure needed to light Pearl Street, but people understood right away the importance of his breakthrough. On December 30, 1879, the New York Herald reported,
Menlo Park [was] thronged with visitors coming from all directions to see the `wonderful’ electric light. Nearly every train that stopped brought delegations of sightseers until the depot was overrun and the narrow plank road leading to the laboratory became alive with people. In the laboratory the throngs practically took possession of everything in their eager curiosity to learn about the great invention.
The future came fast after Edison illuminated Pearl Street. Light bulbs began to replace candles and gas lanterns in houses, bringing steady light without the risk of fire. Factories and shops grew more productive, and safer.
In these energy-conscious times, we all share the benefit of new and more efficient electric lights. Today’s LEDs can run for 25,000 hours and use about one-sixth the energy of modern incandescent bulbs.
Learn more about the history of the light bulb from the U.S. Department of Energy.
The Chicago Fire of 1871 and the 'Great Rebuilding'
Article on the 140th anniversary of the Chicago Fire focusing on city planning and the "Great Rebuilding." For the complete article with media resources, visit:
On October 8, 1871, a fire broke out in a barn on the southwest side of Chicago, Illinois. For more than 24 hours, the fire burned through the heart of Chicago, killing 300 people and leaving one-third of the city's population homeless.
The "Great Rebuilding" was the effort to construct a new, urban center. Big businesses, innovative buildings, and a new style of architecture were the results.
The Great Chicago Fire started on the evening of Oct. 8, 1871. While there is little doubt that the fire started in a barn owned by Patrick and Catherine O'Leary, the exact cause of the fire remains a mystery. From the barn at 137 DeKoven Street, on the city's southwest side, the fire spread north and east, into the heart of Chicago's business district.
Rain put out the fire more than a day later, but by then it had burned an area 4 miles long and 1 mile wide. The fire destroyed 17,500 buildings and 73 miles of street. Ninety thousand people—one in three Chicago residents—were left homeless by the fire. While only 120 bodies were recovered, it is believed that 300 people died in the blaze.
Chicago's summer and fall in 1871 were unusually dry, with only one-fourth the normal amount of rain falling between July and October. Many of the city's wooden buildings and sidewalks had dried out in the summer's intense heat.
On the first night of the fire, strong southwesterly winds fanned the flames high into the sky and created convection spirals, or "fire devils." Fire devils spit burning debris in all directions, causing more buildings to burn.
Buildings often had a single layer of fireproof material on the outside, hiding the wooden structure beneath. The Waterworks, on Pine Street, was just such a building. Its wooden roofing shingles had been replaced with slate, but the structure itself was pine. When a burning ember struck the roof in the first hours of the fire, the Waterworks was quickly destroyed. It was the main source of water for the city's understaffed fire department.
On the first Sunday after the fire, the Rev. Robert Collyer spoke to his Unitarian congregation outside the ruins of Unity Church on Dearborn Street. "We have not lost, first, our geography. Nature called the lakes, the forests, the prairies together in convention long before we were born, and they decided that on this spot a great city would be built." Unity Church was rebuilt the following year.
The fire destroyed the city’s business district, but it left the stockyards and the new packing plants on the South Side untouched. Known as the “Hog Butcher of the World,” Chicago’s stockyards processed more meat than anywhere else on Earth.
Most of the wharfs, lumberyards, and mills along the Chicago River survived, as did two-thirds of the grain elevators to the west. The industries surrounding agriculture and trade kept the city’s finances as stable as possible, and employed thousands of people.
Most railroad tracks were not damaged. This allowed shipments of aid to come pouring in from across the country and around the world. Book donations collected in England became part of Chicago's first free, public library. The Chicago Public Library opened its doors on Jan. 1, 1873. Its original building was a water tank on LaSalle Street that had survived the fire.
In 1956, the Chicago Fire Academy was built on the site where Mr. and Mrs. O'Leary's barn once stood. The school trains new firefighters to this day.
First Phase of the Great Rebuilding
The rebuilding of Chicago started immediately. Sometimes, construction began even before the architect and engineers had completed the design.
After the fire, laws were passed requiring new buildings be constructed with fireproof materials such as brick, stone, marble, and limestone. These building materials, much more expensive than wood, are held together by a sticky, strong substance called mortar. The construction technique using mortar is called masonry. Masons are a skilled group of construction workers.
Many poorer Chicagoans couldn't afford the fireproof materials or skilled masons to rebuild. In addition, many could not afford fire insurance. (Before the fire, many people had insurance, but their policies were burned in the fire.) Without the means to rebuild or insure their property, thousands of people and small businesses were crowded out of Chicago.
Many other businesses simply ignored the new building laws. Wood often replaced stone, and builders decorated their buildings with wooden awnings, cupolas, and cornices.
Terra Cotta
Two events stopped this phase of reconstruction. The first was the failure of a bank, Jay Cooke and Company, in September 1873. The bank’s failure triggered a nationwide depression that halted much of the Chicago construction. The second event was another, somewhat smaller fire, in July 1874. This fire destroyed more than 800 buildings over 60 acres.
After the 1874 fire, the slow and expensive process of rebuilding with fireproof materials began. Big banks and businesses, which handled millions of dollars in revenue every year, dominated Chicago’s new business district.
Terra-cotta clay emerged as a popular and effective building material. By the mid-1880s, terra cotta tiling made Chicago one of the most fireproof cities in the nation.
The renovation of Palmer House, a luxury hotel on Monroe Street, is an example of how reconstruction efforts used terra cotta. Palmer House had opened only 13 days before the Great Fire. When it looked likely that the Palmer House would be destroyed, its architect, John M. Van Osdel, buried the blueprints in a hole in the basement, and covered them with a thick layer of sand and clay. Sand and clay are the chief materials used in the building material known as terra cotta. The blueprints survived the fire, and Van Osdel became convinced that clay terra cotta tile would make an excellent fireproof material.
Terra cotta tiles became roofing materials for the new Palmer House. The building itself was made of iron and brick. Palmer House, which is now part of the Hilton hotel chain, advertised itself as “The World’s Only Fire Proof Hotel.”
Terra cotta would also be used in the Montauk Block, on Monroe Street, often regarded as one of the world’s first high-rise buildings. The Montauk was 10 stories tall, with 150 offices. After the fire, clay tiles formed fireproof insulation around the building's iron frame. The Montauk was also the first building in Chicago where the construction didn't stop during the winter, and it was the first building in the world to be built at night, using the new technique of electric lighting.
Chicago School
Chicago's architects worked to meet the demands of commercial businessmen. Businessmen preferred plain-looking buildings, because putting on fancy ornaments cost more money. This streamlined style became known as the Chicago School of architecture. William Le Baron Jenney, Daniel Burnham, John W. Root, Louis Sullivan, and Dankmar Adler are some of the most well-known Chicago School architects.
The construction of the Home Insurance Building is a good example of how the Chicago School architects worked with businesses to form a new style. When the New York Home Insurance Company relocated its business to Chicago, they challenged the architectural community to come up with a design to bring natural light to all parts of the building. William Le Baron Jenney came up with a solution: Steel, lighter and stronger than iron, could be used on the upper floors.
Jenney's Home Insurance Building, on LaSalle Street, was the first to make use of a steel cage to provide a building's support. The steel frame allowed more large windows to be constructed on every side of the building. Natural light flooded the tall structure. The partitions between offices were made of brick and terra cotta. Built in 1884, the Home Insurance Building is considered to be the world's first skyscraper.
Bernie Sanders speaks with Vox Editor-in-chief Ezra Klein about campaign finance. For the rest of the conversation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5vOK
Vox.com is a news website that helps you cut through the noise and understand what's really driving the events in the headlines. Check out http://www.vox.com to get up to speed on everything from Kurdistan to the Kim Kardashian app.
Forecloses Corporations, Banks and Governments for Operating Slavery and Private Money Systems
17 February 2013
By Andy Whiteley
Co-Founder of Wake Up World and Being of the Creator
THE FACTS:
Many of you have heard… many have not. Announced publicly on 25 December 2012, the system of Corporate-Governmental rule has been foreclosed. Legally foreclosed… via one of its own mechanisms. The “Powers That Be” are now the “Powers That Were”. All debt has been erased and corporations – including but not limited to Corporate Governments and Banks – have been foreclosed.
Sure, they may continue to play along in hopes we will play along with them. But thanks to a series of UCC (Uniform Commercial Code) filings made by the One People’s Public Trust (known as OPPT) the choice is now yours to make. A new framework for social governance is now in effect; a fact that has been ratified by the ‘legal’ framework of its corporate-controlled predecessor.
Systemically speaking… WE ARE FREE!!
(Get comfortable folks – this is a long article but it’s one you can’t afford to miss!!)
One People’s Public Trust
The conclusion of legal actions taken by the OPPT have generated a lot of excitement. And rightly so! The potential for positive change it creates is MOMENTUS!
But before we get into the implications I’d like to present to you the “what happened” and “how” of the situation.
Corporate-controlled Government and corporate-controlled Media refuse to announce their own demise – for obvious reason. So as informed global citizens, I believe our role is to understand what happened and how, so that we can inform others… and finally start the process of worldwide change we’ve all been waiting for.
But First, A Reality Check
Before I go on, allow me to state a few facts up front.
1) Governments are were Corporations. The Corporate Government phenomenon is not only demonstrated by the way “governments” behave as Beneficiaries (not as Trustees) of the government Trust, but the paper-trail also proves it! The United States, Canada, Australia, The United Kingdom, France, Italy, Brazil, Japan, South Africa…. and the list goes on…. all are US-based corporate entities, registered as such with the United States Security & Exchanges Commission… and operating as such at our expense. “The system” is oligarchical in nature, in that it is geared only to profit “the few” while the rest of us work to support it.
2) Persons are were corporations: At birth, a birth certificate application is signed by your parents which is used by Corporate Government to commence a Trust in your name. This Trust is used as collateral, and a collateral account is created and funded in your name. You are the Beneficiary of this Trust… but no-one tells you it exists. If you do not complete a Will by the age of 7, Corporate Government declares you deceased – under admiralty law of all things! – and you are officially considered by the system to be “lost at sea”. Seriously. Corporate Government then assumes financial control of your estate, and they – aware that most of us do in fact live beyond 7 – continue to treat us as living slaves. The funds generated by monetizing your life – using you as collateral – are loaned to you when you apply for bank finance, mortgages etc. You are then forced to work to repay those funds – plus interest – back to the system. Legally, you have no rights because you’re considered “dead” by the age of 7. You lose.
3) Mass media is the tool used by Corporate Governments to deliver propaganda directly to your home. It is used to manipulate public perceptions of Corporate Government actions and inactions, to reinforce social norms, limits and behaviours, and to sell you crap by creating a “need” and then providing you with a product to fulfill it. And it isn’t limited just to Media; the psychology of the “old” paradigm is reinforced through educational and religious institutions as well.
Corporations, Governments and Media all tell the same lies. They are all part of the same beast.
4) As a result, the world’s economic structure is was a mechanism of mass slavery. Slavery is a system under which people are treated as property, and are forced to work. Slaves are held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, or to refuse to work.
Sound familiar?
You were born into “the system” without any say in how it works. You were raised and taught to contribute to the system. You must work exhaustive hours in the system, and you must pay taxes to the system. You must adhere to the rules of the system – most of which relate to property and ownership – or you will be punished by the system. By design, the system will deliver abundance only to a select few, and many others will go hungry. But if you don’t like it, you cannot leave the system. The system “owns” everything, everyone and everywhere.
Until now, you had one option: play along. It’s like living in a casino with no exit. And the house always wins.
When Were Our Governments Corporatized?
It all started with the introduction of the Reserve Bank system. When the Federal Reserve Act was implemented in the United States in 1913, Congressman Charles Lindberg warned the US Congress in a Congressional Record dated, December 22, 1913 (vol. 51) that an inevitable consequence of instituting the Federal Reserve system was that – using their power to inflate and deflate an economy – corporations would take control.
In Congressman Lindbergh’s words: “From now on, depressions will be scientifically created”.
And they are. In 1929, the “Powers That Were” deliberately crashed the stock market. How?
Fluctuations in the stock market are driven by emotion. Prior to the 1929 crash, excitement was created in the market which created a period of inflation. Those in control unloaded their holdings at premium prices, then created a panic in the market. And as prices plummeted, they bought back their holdings at fire-sale prices – and eliminated their ailing competition in the process.
In short, the Great Depression was artificially generated so the large corporations that controlled the stock market could profit from lending governments the money required to recover from its orchestrated collapse. Sovereign nations were ultimately forced to sign onto debt agreements which, by their nature, could never be paid off. And as national debts began to mount, the “slavery by debt” paradigm was formalized…. and corporations took control.
Today, Corporate Governments continue to masquerade as real government. The Reserve Bank system (which now dominates western economies) continues to drive periods of ‘market-boom’ and ‘market-bust’ by strategically tightening and relaxing the supply of money and credit. The current Global Financial Crisis is a perfect example. And all the while, establishment Media plays its part by influencing the emotion of the stock market and facilitating political untruths.
But the complex campaign undertaken by the OPPT has forced the corporate system into foreclosure. All corporations, including Government and Banking systems, have been rendered extinct using their own mechanisms of commercial regulation. Lawfully speaking, it’s a case of out with the old trusts and in with the new!
So Is This The “Overthrow Of Government”?
No – it is the overthrow of the corporations who have until now masqueraded as government. If you understand that “governments” are actually corporations that have overwritten the constitutions of sovereign nations by stealth, their demise can only be seen as long overdue.
The fraud of government is real. And finally – by their failure to rebut the UCC claims – the entire corporate government complex stands guilty of fraud, treason and slavery. By international law, the OPPT has the right to claim remedy on behalf of the One People for those crimes. They chose to foreclose on and terminate the corporations, banks and governments responsible, and to confiscate all assets and infrastructures of these entities – including all the gold and silver held as assets by the banking system – and place them in the hands of the One People.
Don’t think of it as an overthrow, think of it as the recovery of stolen property. The actions of the One People’s Public Trust essentially reclaim what is ours, as sovereign beings of this planet. Universal Law, Common Law and the UCC are now the governing law of the planet.
(I will later describe in detail the mechanisms implemented by the OPPT to replace the necessary functions of governance).
UCC: The Bible Of Commerce
The UCC is the “bible” of commerce; it precisely dictates the manner in which international trade and commerce should be enacted. In fact, the entire commercial system pivots around UCC law. If your mortgage is foreclosed on or your car is repossessed, the bank uses the UCC process to do so.
While UCC law remains the domain of corporations and their operatives, one of the trustees of OPPT was professionally involved in UCC law for some time, and understands intimately how the “Powers That Were” manipulated the UCC to control the United States financial system at a very high level.
UCC expert, mother, and OPPT spearhead Heather Ann Tucci-Jarraf used the foreclosure of her own home as a test case. She challenged the foreclosure through UCC process, and in doing so discovered – put very simply – that the U.S. court system invariably supports the corporate system.
Not surprising really, given that 99% of our laws relate to ownership… or commerce.
After exercising extreme prudence, the OPPT concluded that the corporations operating under the guise of the people’s governments and financial systems were committing treason against the people of this planet without the people’s knowing, willing and intentional consent. The final report from the investigation can be found here.
So… in order to foreclose on “the system”, the Trustees of OPPT set a trap using the legal structure provided to them BY “the system”.
How Did The Trustees Achieve Foreclosure?
The OPPT is managed by Trustees Caleb Skinner, Hollis Randall Hillner and Heather Ann Tucci-Jarraf. The OPPT was created when the Trustees bonded themselves to – and as a result resumed – the trust that was framed in the original US Constitution of 1776; the constitution that was abandoned when the United States government was corporatized in 1933.
The OPPT then bonded every individual on the planet to this Trust as the Beneficiaries in equity, known as “the One People, created by The Creator”. By doing so, the Trustees framed a Trust that has a superior claim to any other – the Trust between the Creator and the “states of being” of Earth. The “states of being” of Earth are the beneficiaries of the Creator as the custodians of the Creator’s manifestations on Earth. Lawfully speaking, there can be no higher claim than that of the One People’s Public Trust… except for one made by the Creator.
Our planet’s resources – specified in the UCC filings to be the world’s gold and silver – cannot therefore be owned, sold to us for a price, metered out in ‘salary’ quantities to enslave us, or withheld to create poverty or destitution. Under the One People’s Public Trust, we all have equity. Our planet’s resources now belong to each of us in equal measure. That is our birth right. Now it is law.
Between 2011 and 2012, the Trustees lodged a complex series of filings with the UCC on behalf of its Beneficiary. Full details of the OPPT’s filings with the UCC can be found on their website: http://i-uv.com. Be warned: it is very heavy legal reading and designed for the purposes of legal noticing and disclosure, not for communicating OPPT’s actions or their implications to the general public. However the Trustees are working directly with the global ‘alternative media’ community to ensure the public receive accurate, clear and relevant information.
To summarise these documents:
Understanding that corporations, governments and banks are one and the same, an “Order of Finding and Action” was filed against the “the debtor”, a legal entity created via the UCC process which encompasses all corporate entities. The filings claim that the Debtor “knowingly, willingly and intentionally committed treason” by “owning, operating, aiding and abetting private money systems” and “operating Slavery Systems used against… citizens without their knowing, willing and intentional consent”.
UCC filings are public records, and follow standard administrative processes. When facing a claim, an entity (in this case “the Debtor”) is given the right of rebuttal. If a rebuttal is not received within the required timeframe, a default action then applies, followed by termination of that entity; in this case, on the grounds that it failed to rebut charges of treason by “the One People”.
The important thing to understand here is that a UCC filing stands as law if it remains unrebutted. And in this case, the OPPT Trustees ensured they created a legal situation in which the individuals and entities that form “the debtor” had no ability to rebut. How could they? The claims of slavery and fraud are true.
Of course, no rebuttal was received.
The ‘Debtor’ is therefore guilty of treason.
As remedy, corporations are foreclosed and their assets re-claimed.
The wealth of our planet is returned to “the One People”.
All corporate debt is erased.
“The system” is terminated.
The public record shows it.
The UCC filing stands as international law.
By the system’s own terms, it no longer exists.
We are free!!
Click here to read the press release issued by the One People’s Public Trust on 4th February 2013.
So What Does All This Mean?
Lawfully, nobody can stand as a superior authority between you and your relationship with the Creator. Having removed the control-mechanisms of economy and government, the One People’s Public Trust leaves individuals in full liability, being personally responsible for themselves and for ensuring the free-will rights of others. There is no longer a structural chain of command. No rules. No corporations to hide behind. You are – as the Creator intended – a Being and a guardian of our planet and its inhabitants.
It’s a MASSIVE paradigm shift, and one that will no doubt take some time to be realised in full.
The systemic barriers that inhibited our free will and choices have now been removed, which poses challenges to the way we view ourselves and the way we make choices in our own lives. We now live – on paper at least – in a system of self-responsibility. The OPPT filings register this in perpetuity, and in such a way that your free will can never be taken away without your knowing consent.
Until now, our existence under the former slavery system has been a constant struggle; a struggle to balance work and family commitments; a struggle just to “make ends meet”, to “afford” a place to live – a place in which to exist.
But in a world of ABUNDANCE designed specifically by the Creator to provide for our needs, this struggle was not a natural state of being. Rather it was the result of psychological warfare played out against us. And it worked! It kept us humans under control, kept us working like good little slaves, and ensured the profits kept rolling in for the privileged few in “power”.
But today, by its own terms, “the system” no longer exists.
Many of us saw “the system” for what it was. Many did not. Many didn’t believe that “the system” was even a system. Many will realise it shortly.
Regardless, as the demise of the old paradigm takes root and becomes apparent in our societies, a psychological change must happen within all of us. It may seem overwhelming, but we humans have dealt with paradigm change before; consider the internal and psychological change required of the African American slave race when the system of involuntary servitude was abolished… of the German people when the Berlin Wall was ordered down in 1989… of the citizens of the former Soviet Union at its dissolution in 1991… of the Egyptian people who removed their dictator in 2011… and of the Icelandic people who imprisoned their corrupt bankers and politicians and re-wrote their constitution in 2012….
This type of psychological revolution is not new. But it does pose many personal challenges.
This is a time to be brave, and to be bravely YOU. In the absence of a controlling structure we must each take control of our destinies, and of the destiny of our planet. We must learn to make choices for ourselves again, and start to create the world WE want to live in.
Just like new parents, we must accept that life will not be the same as it was… and in the absence of a “rule book” we will attune to our instincts and learn to co-operate in new ways….. together.
Why Can’t I See The Change??
Be patient… you will. But first, we need to identify how the actions of OPPT change the lawful landscape, and how that relates to us.
Will the old corporate system go down fighting? Of course it will! Corporate-controlled Governments are going through the motions as though nothing has changed. And if you continue to accept their system of debt slavery, I’m sure the “Powers That Were” will happily continue to accommodate you!
But don’t be fooled: they know what has happened. They know they have been foreclosed. They know the game is over. It is now international law.
We have the freedom to peacefully not co-operate with the old system. It is time to exercise that freedom.
If it seems strange that the visible “governments” are still masquerading as such, bear in mind…. visible governments are corporate puppets, and were never really calling the shots. At this point, the former owners want us to believe it is ‘business as usual’. They have relied heavily on secrecy until now. They will keep pretending to the very end. That is just their way.
OPPT Trustee Heather Ann Tucci-Jarraf provided the following statement in a recent Freedom Radio interview that summarizes her plan to address this matter:
“For those wondering about OPPT’s response to the actions or inactions of those people we can visibly see, it is the wizards and the big-dogs behind the curtain that I am coming for… and they know it. In absolute love and peace, with absolute gratitude and grace… Heather.”
Managing “Old System” Actions Against You
With the dissolution of the debt/slavery system, any fictional debt you supposedly owed to that system was also dissolved. Think about this for a minute!
To facilitate your smooth transition out of the old system, you will need to understand what immediate remedy you can apply to “old system” actions that are currently being undertaken against you.
In two recent Wake Up World articles, we discussed a pre-OPPT method of re-asserting your authority on the Corporate Government mechanism (read Part 1 & Part 2). This method was rooted in the knowledge that (1) the former governments were corporations, and (2) the onus is on anyone claiming the authority of legitimate government to prove it.
You can view a real life case-study of this method in Scott Bartle’s documentary What the FUQ? Frequently Unanswered Questions of the “Australian Government”
Generically, the crux of this challenge was:
“You have made a claim on me, and I am happy to comply with your demand… however I would like to ascertain that I am dealing with the right people. Please demonstrate to me that you represent true government as constituted at the creation of this country.”
In this situation, once the Corporate Government entity failed to demonstrate its legitimacy, control of that interaction could be assumed by you by introducing your own Terms and Conditions under which any interaction between you and that entity may continue.
In a post-OPPT world, your process for challenging the authority of alleged ‘Corporate agents’ (including those claiming to represent Government) is essentially:
“I would be happy to comply with your demand… however in UCC Law there is a filing that remains unrebutted which foreclosed upon the entity you claim to represent. You are now operating on your own personal liability. Please cease your claim on me. If you decide to pursue this claim again, any future interactions between us will be under the following conditions…”
Remembering that the agent no longer represents a corporate entity, a Courtesy Notice should be provided to the individual, including the ‘Terms & Conditions’ under which you will accept any future interactions. This both informs them, and allows them the opportunity to withdraw their unlawful claim against you. If the agent initiates further contact with you, they trigger a personal contract between you by indicating their acceptance of the terms you provided.
If a second agent of the same former corporation contacts you about the same claim, repeat the process with that individual also. Remember, corporations no longer exist. You are only dealing with other individuals.
Alternative Description: Courtesy Notice (Australian)
Following the events of January 6 at the United States Capitol, we need to figure out how to prevent this from happening again. Support Renegade Cut through Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/renegadecut
The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir presumptive to the Austro-Hungarian throne, and his wife, Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg, occurred on 28 June 1914 in Sarajevo when they were mortally wounded by Gavrilo Princip. Princip was one of a group of six assassins also containing Muhamed Mehmedbašić, Vaso Čubrilović, Nedeljko Čabrinović, Cvjetko Popović and Trifko Grabež (one Bosniak and five Serbs consecutively) coordinated by Danilo Ilić, a Bosnian Serb and a member of the Black Hand secret society. The political objective of the assassination was to break off Austria-Hungary's South Slav provinces so they could be combined into a Yugoslavia. The conspirators' motives were consistent with the movement that later became known as Young Bosnia. The assassination led directly to World War I when Austria-Hungary subsequently issued an ultimatum to the Kingdom of Serbia, which was partially rejected. Austria-Hungary then declared war on Serbia, triggering actions leading to war between most European states.
The Serbian military conspiracy was organized by Chief of Serbian Military Intelligence Dragutin Dimitrijević with the assistance of Major Vojislav Tankosić and Rade Malobabić, a Serbian intelligence agent. Tankosić armed the assassins with bombs and pistols and trained them. The assassins were given access to the same clandestine network of safe-houses and agents that Malobabić used for the infiltration of weapons and operatives into Austria-Hungary.
The assassins, the key members of the clandestine network, and the key Serbian military conspirators who were still alive were arrested, tried, convicted and punished. Those who were arrested in Bosnia were tried in Sarajevo in October 1914. The other conspirators were arrested and tried before a Serbian court on the French-controlled Salonika Front in 1916–1917 on unrelated false charges; Serbia executed three of the top military conspirators. Much of what is known about the assassinations comes from these two trials and related records. Princip's legacy came under reevaluation following the breakup of Yugoslavia and public opinion of him in the successor states.
Under the 1878 Treaty of Berlin, Austria-Hungary received the mandate to occupy and administer the Ottoman Vilayet of Bosnia, while the Ottoman Empire retained official sovereignty. Under this same treaty, the Great Powers (Austria-Hungary, the United Kingdom, France, the German Empire, Italy, and the Russian Empire) gave official recognition to the Principality of Serbia as a fully sovereign state, which four years later transformed into a kingdom under Prince Milan IV Obrenović who thus became King Milan I of Serbia. Serbia's monarchs, at the time from the royal House of Obrenović that maintained close relations with Austria-Hungary, were content to reign within the borders set by the treaty.
This changed in May 1903, when Serbian military officers led by Dragutin Dimitrijević stormed the Serbian Royal Palace. After a fierce battle in the dark, the attackers captured General Laza Petrović, head of the Palace Guard, and forced him to reveal the hiding place of King Alexander I Obrenović and his wife Queen Draga. The King was subsequently shot thirty times and the Queen eighteen. MacKenzie writes that "the royal corpses were then stripped and brutally sabred." The attackers threw the corpses of King Alexander and Queen Draga out of a palace window, ending any threat that loyalists would mount a counterattack." General Petrović was then killed when Vojislav Tankosić organized the murders of Queen Draga's brothers. The conspirators installed Peter I of the House of Karađorđević as the new king.
The new dynasty was more nationalist, friendlier to Russia and less friendly to Austria-Hungary. Over the next decade, disputes between Serbia and its neighbors erupted, as Serbia moved to build its power and gradually reclaim its 14th-century empire. These conflicts included a customs dispute with Austria-Hungary beginning in 1906 (commonly referred to as the "Pig War"); the Bosnian crisis of 1908–1909, in which Serbia assumed an attitude of protest over Austria-Hungary's annexation of Bosnia-Herzegovina (ending in Serbian acquiescence without compensation in March 1909); and finally the two Balkan Wars of 1912–1913, in which Serbia acquired Macedonia and Kosovo from the Ottoman Empire and drove out Bulgaria.
Serbia's military successes and Serbian outrage over the Austro-Hungarian annexation of Bosnia-Herzegovina emboldened Serbian nationalists in Serbia and Serbs in Austria-Hungary who chafed under Austro-Hungarian rule and whose nationalist sentiments were stirred by Serb "cultural" organizations. One notable example was a Serbian nationalist society Narodna Odbrana, which was formed in Belgrade on 8 October 1908 under the initiative of Milovan Milovanović. Under the guise of cultural activities, it operated to undermine the loyalty of Serbs in Austria-Hungary to the Habsburg regime. In the five years leading up to 1914, lone assassins – mostly Serb citizens of Austria-Hungary – made a series of unsuccessful assassination attempts in Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina against Austro-Hungarian officials. In Bosnia-Herzegovina, there existed a local revolutionary movement known as Young Bosnia, whose goal was the dissolution of Austria-Hungary.
On 3 June 1910, Bogdan Žerajić, a member of the Young Bosnia movement, attempted to kill the Austrian governor of Bosnia-Herzegovina, General Marijan Varešanin. Žerajić was a 22-year-old Orthodox Serb from Nevesinje, Herzegovina, who was a student at the Faculty of Law at the University of Zagreb and made frequent trips to Belgrade. (General Verešanin went on to crush the last Bosnian peasant uprising in the second half of 1910). The five bullets Žerajić fired at Varešanin and the fatal bullet he put in his own brain made Žerajić an inspiration to future assassins, including Princip and Princip's accomplice Čabrinović. Princip said that Žerajić "was my first model. When I was seventeen I passed whole nights at his grave, reflecting on our wretched condition and thinking of him. It is there that I made up my mind sooner or later to perpetrate an outrage."
In May 1911, the Black Hand, a secret society dedicated to creating a Greater Serbia through "terrorist action", was established by key members of the Narodna Odbrana including Dimitrijević and Tankosić. Within Bosnia-Herzegovina, the networks of both the Black Hand and Narodna Odbrana penetrated local revolutionary movements such as Young Bosnia.
In 1913, Emperor Franz Joseph commanded Archduke Franz Ferdinand to observe the military maneuvers in Bosnia scheduled for June 1914. Following the maneuvers, Ferdinand and his wife planned to visit Sarajevo to open the state museum in its new premises there. Duchess Sophie, according to their eldest son, Duke Maximilian, accompanied her husband out of fear for his safety.
As Sophie, although of high aristocratic birth, was not from a dynastic family, her union with the Habsburg heir presumptive could only be a morganatic marriage. Emperor Franz Joseph had only consented to their marriage on the condition that their descendants would never ascend the throne. The 14th anniversary of their marriage fell on 28 June. As historian A. J. P. Taylor observes:
[Sophie] could never share [Franz Ferdinand's] rank ... could never share his splendours, could never even sit by his side on any public occasion. There was one loophole ... his wife could enjoy the recognition of his rank when he was acting in a military capacity. Hence, he decided, in 1914, to inspect the army in Bosnia. There, at its capital Sarajevo, the Archduke and his wife could ride in an open carriage side by side ... Thus, for love, did the Archduke go to his death.
Franz Ferdinand was an advocate of increased federalism and widely believed to favor trialism, under which Austria-Hungary would be reorganized by combining the Slavic lands within the Austro-Hungarian empire into a third crown. A Slavic kingdom could have been a bulwark against Serb irredentism, and Franz Ferdinand was therefore perceived as a threat by those same irredentists. Princip later stated to the court that preventing Franz Ferdinand's planned reforms was one of his motivations.
The day of the assassination, 28 June (15 June in the Julian calendar), is the feast of St. Vitus. In Serbia, it is called Vidovdan and commemorates the 1389 Battle of Kosovo against the Ottomans, at which the Sultan was assassinated in his tent by a Serb. Princip, Čabrinović and other members of the Young Bosnia were inspired by the heroism of Miloš Obilić, reenacting the Kosovo Myth. Čabrinović was deeply immersed in the Myth, personally identifying himself with the Kosovo heroes, while it is known that the Princip knew the entire Petar II Petrović-Njegoš's The Mountain Wreath, one of the most celebrated works in the South Slavic literature that glorifies the heroic ideals and spirit of the Kosovo Myth.
Planning direct action
Danilo Ilić was a Bosnian Orthodox Serb. He had worked as a school teacher and as a bank worker but in 1913 and 1914 he lived with, and outwardly off, his mother, who operated a small boarding house in Sarajevo. Secretly, Ilić was the leader of the Serbian-irredentist Black Hand cell in Sarajevo. In late 1913, Danilo Ilić came to the Serbian listening post at Užice to speak to the officer in charge, Serbian Colonel C. A. Popović, who was a captain at the time and a member of the Black Hand. Ilić recommended an end to the period of revolutionary organization building and a move to direct action against Austria-Hungary. Popović passed Danilo Ilić on to Belgrade to discuss this matter with Chief of Serbian Military Intelligence Colonel Dragutin Dimitrijević, known more commonly as Apis. By 1913, Apis and his fellow military conspirators (drawn heavily from the ranks of the May 1903 coup) had come to dominate what was left of the Black Hand.
There are no reports as to what took place between Ilić and Apis, but soon after their meeting, Apis's righthand man and fellow Black Hander, Serbian Major Vojislav Tankosić, who by this time was in charge of guerrilla training, called a Serbian irredentist planning meeting in Toulouse, France. Amongst those summoned to the Toulouse meeting was Muhamed Mehmedbašić, a carpenter by trade and son of an impoverished Muslim noble from Herzegovina. He too was a member of the Black Hand, having been sworn into the organization by Black Hand Provincial Director for Bosnia-Herzegovina Vladimir Gacinović and Danilo Ilić. Mehmedbašić was (here quoting Albertini paraphrasing Mehmedbašić) "eager to carry out an act of terrorism to revive the revolutionary spirit of Bosnia." During this January 1914 meeting, various possible Austro-Hungarian targets for assassination were discussed, including Franz Ferdinand. However, the participants decided only to dispatch Mehmed Mehmedbašić to Sarajevo, to kill the Governor of Bosnia, Oskar Potiorek.
While Mehmedbašić was traveling to Bosnia-Herzegovina from France, police searched his train for a thief. Thinking the police might be after him, he threw his weapons (a dagger and a bottle of poison) out the train window. Once he arrived in Bosnia-Herzegovina he had to set about looking for replacement weapons.
Franz Ferdinand chosen
The search for new weapons delayed Mehmedbašić's attempt on Potiorek. Before Mehmedbašić was ready to act, Ilić summoned him to Mostar. On 26 March 1914, Ilić informed Mehmedbašić that Belgrade had scrapped the mission to kill the governor. The plan now was to murder Franz Ferdinand, and Mehmedbašić should stand by for the new operation. (Apis confessed to the Serbian Court that he ordered the assassination of Franz Ferdinand in his position as head of the Intelligence Department.)
Ilić recruited the Serbian youths Vaso Čubrilović and Cvjetko Popović shortly after Easter (Orthodox Easter as given by Dedijer: 19 April 1914), for the assassination, as evidenced by the testimony of Ilić, Čubrilović, and Popović at the Sarajevo trial. Three youths – Gavrilo Princip, Trifko Grabež, and Nedeljko Čabrinović – Bosnian Serb subjects of Austria-Hungary, living in Belgrade, testified at the Sarajevo trial that at about the same time (a little after Easter), they were eager to carry out an assassination and approached a fellow Bosnian Serb and former guerrilla fighter known to be well connected and with access to arms, Milan Ciganović, and through him Major Tankosić and reached an agreement to transport arms to Sarajevo and participate in the assassination.
Agreement in principle was quickly reached, but the delivery of the weapons was delayed for more than a month. The assassins would meet with Ciganović and he would put them off. At one point, Ciganović told Grabež: "Nothing doing, the old Emperor is ill and the Heir Apparent [sic] will not go to Bosnia." When Emperor Franz Joseph's health recovered the operation was a "go" again. Tankosić gave the assassins one FN Model 1910 pistol. They practiced shooting a few rounds of scarce and expensive .380 ACP pistol ammunition in a park near Belgrade.
The rest of the weapons were finally delivered on 26 May. The three assassins from Belgrade testified that Major Tankosić, directly and through Ciganović, not only provided six hand grenades and four new Browning FN Model 1910 automatic pistols with .380 ACP ammunition, but also money, suicide pills, training, a special map with the location of gendarmes marked, knowledge of contacts on a clandestine tunnel used to infiltrate agents and arms into Austria-Hungary, and a small card authorizing the use of that tunnel.[51] Major Tankosić confirmed to the journalist and historian Luciano Magrini that he provided the bombs and pistols and was responsible for training Princip, Grabež, and Čabrinović and that he (Tankosić) initiated the idea of the suicide pills.
Route of the weapons from Belgrade to Sarajevo
Princip, Grabež, and Čabrinović left Belgrade by boat on 28 May and traveled along the Sava River to Šabac where they handed the small card to Captain Popović of the Serbian Border Guard. Popović, in turn, provided them with a letter to Serbian Captain Prvanović, and filled out a form with the names of three customs officials whose identities they could assume and thereby receive discounted train tickets for the ride to Loznica, a small border town.
When Princip, Grabež, and Čabrinović reached Loznica on 29 May, Captain Prvanović summoned three of his revenue sergeants to discuss the best way to cross the border undetected. While waiting for the sergeants to arrive, Princip and Grabež had a falling out with Čabrinović over Čabrinović's repeated violations of operational security. Čabrinović handed over the weapons he was carrying to Princip and Grabež. Princip told Čabrinović to go alone to Zvornik, make an official crossing there using Grabež's ID card and then go on to Tuzla and link back up.
On the morning of 30 May Prvanović's revenue sergeants assembled and Sergeant Budivoj Grbić accepted the task and led Princip and Grabež by foot to Isaković's Island, a small island in the middle of the Drina River that separated Serbia from Bosnia. They and their weapons reached the island on 31 May. Grbić passed the terrorists and their weapons to the agents of the Serbian Narodna Odbrana for transport into Austro-Hungarian territory and from safe-house to safe-house. Princip and Grabež crossed into Austria-Hungary on the evening of 1 June. Princip and Grabež and the weapons were passed from agent to agent until on 3 June they arrived in Tuzla. They left the weapons in the hands of the Narodna Odbrana agent Miško Jovanović and rejoined Čabrinović.
The Narodna Odbrana agents reported their activities to the Narodna Odbrana President, Boža Janković, who in turn reported to the then Serbian Caretaker Prime Minister Nikola Pašić. The report to Pašić added the name of a new military conspirator, Serbian Major Kosta Todorović, Boundary Commissioner and Director of Serbian Military Intelligence Services for the frontier line from Rada to Ljubovija. Pašić's handwritten notes from the briefing (estimated by Dedijer to have taken place on 5 June) included the nickname of one of the assassins ("Trifko" Grabež) and also the name of Major Tankosić. The Austrians later captured the report, Pašić's handwritten notes, and additional corroborating documents.
Čabrinović's father was a Sarajevo police official. In Tuzla, Čabrinović bumped into one of his father's friends, Sarajevo Police Detective Ivan Vila, and struck up a conversation. By coincidence, Princip, Grabež and Čabrinović boarded the same train for Sarajevo as Detective Vila. Čabrinović inquired of the detective the date of Franz Ferdinand's visit to Sarajevo. The next morning, Čabrinović passed on the news to his fellow assassins that the assassination would be on 28 June.
On arriving in Sarajevo on 4 June, Princip, Grabež, and Čabrinović went their separate ways. Princip checked in with Ilić, visited his family in Hadžici and returned to Sarajevo on 6 June taking up residence at Ilić's mother's house with Ilić. Grabež joined his family in Pale. Čabrinović moved back into his father's house in Sarajevo.
On 14 June, Ilić went to Tuzla to bring the weapons to Sarajevo. Miško Jovanović hid the weapons in a large box of sugar. On 15 June, the two went separately by train to Doboj where Jovanović handed off the box to Ilić.[65] Later that day, Ilić returned to Sarajevo by train, being careful to transfer to a local train outside Sarajevo and then quickly transfer to a tram to avoid police detection. Once at his mother's house, Ilić hid the weapons in a suitcase under a sofa. Then, on approximately 17 June, Ilić traveled to Brod (Dedijer puts it on 16 June, but trial records put it on 18 June). Questioned at trial, Ilić gave a confusing explanation of the reason for his trip, first saying he had gone to Brod to prevent the assassination and then saying he had returned to Sarajevo from Brod to prevent the assassination. Dedijer puts forward the thesis (citing Bogijević) that Ilić went to Brod to meet an emissary of Apis, Djuro Ŝarac, who had instructions to cancel the assassination and then later Rade Malobabić was dispatched from Serbia to Sarajevo to reauthorize the assassination.
Eve of the attacks
Ilić began handing out the weapons on 27 June. Until that day, Ilić had kept the identities of the assassins from Belgrade secret from those he had recruited locally and vice versa. Then, that night, as Mehmedbašić told Albertini: "On the eve of the outrage Ilić introduced me to Princip in a Sarajevo café with the words 'Mehmedbašić who to-morrow is to be with us.'" The three sent a postcard to Black Hand Provincial Director for Bosnia-Herzegovina Vladimir Gaćinović in France.
Assassination
Motorcade
The 1911 Gräf & Stift 28/32 PS Double Phaeton in which Archduke Franz Ferdinand was riding at the time of his assassination, Museum of Military History, Vienna (2003)
On the morning of 28 June 1914, Ilić positioned the six assassins along the motorcade route. Ilić walked the street, exhorting the assassins to bravery. Franz Ferdinand and his party proceeded by train from Ilidža Spa to Sarajevo. Governor Oskar Potiorek met the party at Sarajevo station. Six automobiles were waiting. By mistake, three local police officers got into the first car with the chief officer of special security; the special security officers who were supposed to accompany their chief got left behind. The second car carried the Mayor and the Chief of Police of Sarajevo. The third car in the motorcade was a Gräf & Stift 28/32 PS open sports car with its top folded down. Franz Ferdinand, Sophie, Governor Potiorek, and Lieutenant Colonel Count Franz von Harrach rode in this third car. The motorcade's first stop on the preannounced program was for a brief inspection of a military barracks. According to the program, at 10:00 a.m., the motorcade was to leave the barracks for the town hall by way of the Appel Quay.
Security arrangements within Sarajevo were limited. The local military commander, General Michael von Appel, proposed that troops line the intended route but was told that this would offend the loyal citizenry. Protection for the visiting party was accordingly left to the Sarajevo police, of whom only about 60 were on duty on the Sunday of the visit.
Bombing
A map annotated with the events of 28 June 1914, from an official report
The motorcade passed the first assassin, Mehmedbašić. Danilo Ilić had placed him in front of the garden of the Mostar Cafe and armed him with a bomb.Mehmedbašić failed to act. Ilić had placed Vaso Čubrilović next to Mehmedbašić, arming him with a pistol and a bomb. He too failed to act. Further along the route, Ilić had placed Nedeljko Čabrinović on the opposite side of the street near the Miljacka River, arming him with a bomb.
At 10:10 am, Franz Ferdinand's car approached and Čabrinović threw his bomb. The bomb bounced off the folded back convertible cover into the street. The bomb's timed detonator caused it to explode under the next car, putting that car out of action, leaving a 1-foot-diameter (0.30 m), 6.5-inch-deep (170 mm) crater, and wounding 16–20 people.
Čabrinović swallowed his cyanide pill and jumped into the Miljacka river. Čabrinović's suicide attempt failed, as the old cyanide only induced vomiting, and the Miljacka was only 13 cm deep due to the hot, dry summer. Police dragged Čabrinović out of the river, and he was severely beaten by the crowd before being taken into custody.
The procession sped away towards the Town Hall leaving the disabled car behind. Cvjetko Popović, Gavrilo Princip, and Trifun Grabež failed to act as the motorcade passed them at high speed.
Arriving at the Town Hall for a scheduled reception, Franz Ferdinand showed understandable signs of stress, interrupting a prepared speech of welcome by Mayor Fehim Curčić to protest: "Mr. Mayor, I came here on a visit and I am greeted with bombs. It is outrageous."[78] Duchess Sophie then whispered into Franz Ferdinand's ear, and after a pause, Franz Ferdinand said to the mayor: "Now you may speak."[73] He then became calm and the mayor gave his speech. Franz Ferdinand had to wait as his own speech, still wet with blood from being in the damaged car, was brought to him. To the prepared text he added a few remarks about the day's events thanking the people of Sarajevo for their ovations "as I see in them an expression of their joy at the failure of the attempt at assassination."[79]
Officials and members of the Archduke's party discussed what to do next. The archduke's chamberlain, Baron Rumerskirch, proposed that the couple remain at the Town Hall until troops could be brought into the city to line the streets. Governor-General Oskar Potiorek vetoed this suggestion on the grounds that soldiers coming straight from maneuvers would not have the dress uniforms appropriate for such duties. "Do you think that Sarajevo is full of assassins?" he concluded.
Franz Ferdinand and Sophie gave up their planned program in favor of visiting the wounded from the bombing, at the hospital. Count Harrach took up a position on the left-hand running board of Franz Ferdinand's car to protect the Archduke from any assault from the river side of the street. This is confirmed by photographs of the scene outside the Town Hall. At 10:45 a.m. Franz Ferdinand and Sophie got back into the motorcade, once again in the third car. In order to ensure the safety of the couple, General Oskar Potiorek decided that the imperial motorcade should travel straight along the Appel Quay to the Sarajevo Hospital so that they could avoid the crowded city center.] However, Potiorek failed to communicate his decision to the drivers. As a result, the Archduke's driver, Leopold Lojka, took a right turn at the Latin Bridge just as the two drivers ahead of him. According to the historian Joachim Remak, the reason for this is that Potiorek's aide Eric(h) von Merrizzi was in the hospital, and was therefore unable to give Lojka the information about the change in plans and the driving route.[88] The Sarajevo Chief of Police Edmund Gerde, who had earlier repeatedly warned Potiorek of insufficient security precautions for the imperial visit, was asked by one of the Archduke's aides to tell the drivers of the new route, but in the confusion and tensions of the moment, he neglected to do so.
Fatal shooting
The aftermath of the assassination
Princip's FN Model 1910 pistol, displayed at the Museum of Military History, Vienna, 2009
After learning that the first assassination attempt had been unsuccessful, Princip thought about a position to assassinate the Archduke on his return journey, and decided to move to a position in front of a nearby food shop (Schiller's delicatessen), near the Latin Bridge. At this point, the first and second cars of the Archduke's motorcade suddenly turned right into a side street, leaving the Appel Quay. When the Archduke’s driver followed their route, Governor Potiorek, who was sharing the third vehicle with the Imperial couple, called out to the driver to stop as he was going the wrong way. The driver applied the brakes and reversing stalls the engine close to where Princip was standing. The assassin stepped up to the footboard of the car, and shot Franz Ferdinand and Sophie at point‐blank range using a Belgian-made Fabrique Nationale model 1910 .380 caliber pistol. Pistol serial numbers 19074, 19075, 19120 and 19126 were supplied to the assassins; Princip used #19074. According to Albertini, "the first bullet wounded the Archduke in the jugular vein, the second inflicted an abdominal wound on the Duchess." Princip tried to shoot himself, but was immediately seized and arrested. At his sentencing, Princip stated that his intention had been to kill Governor Potiorek, rather than Sophie.
After being shot, Sophie immediately fell unconscious and collapsed onto Franz Ferdinand’s legs. The Archduke, too, lost consciousness while being driven to the Governor's residence for medical treatment. As reported by Count Harrach, Franz Ferdinand's last words were "Sophie, Sophie! Don't die! Live for our children!" followed by six or seven utterances of "It is nothing," in response to Harrach's inquiry as to Franz Ferdinand's injury. These utterances were followed by a violent choking sound caused by hemorrhage. The imperial couple were dead by 11:30 a.m on 28 June 1914; Sophie was dead on arrival at the Governor's residence, and Franz Ferdinand died 10 minutes later.
Funeral
The bodies were transported to Trieste by the battleship SMS Viribus Unitis and then to Vienna by special train. Even though most foreign royalty had planned to attend, they were pointedly disinvited and the funeral was just the immediate imperial family, with the dead couple's three children excluded from the few public ceremonies. The officer corps was forbidden to salute the funeral train, and this led to a minor revolt led by Archduke Karl, the new heir presumptive. The public viewing of the coffins was curtailed severely and even more scandalously, Montenuovo tried unsuccessfully to make the children foot the bill. The Archduke and Duchess were interred at Artstetten Castle because the Duchess could not be buried in the Imperial Crypt.
Aftermath
Crowds on the streets in the aftermath of the Anti-Serb riots in Sarajevo, 29 June 1914
All of the assassins were eventually caught. Those in Austro-Hungarian custody were tried together with members of the infiltration route who had helped deliver them and their weapons to Sarajevo. Mehmedbašić was arrested in Montenegro, but was allowed to "escape" to Serbia where he joined Major Tankosić's auxiliaries, but in 1916 Serbia imprisoned him on other false charges (see criminal penalty section below).
Anti-Serb rioting broke out in Sarajevo and various other places within Austria-Hungary in the hours following the assassination until order was restored by the military. On the night of the assassination, country-wide anti-Serb pogroms and demonstrations were also organized in other parts of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, particularly on the territory of modern-day Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia. They were organized and stimulated by Oskar Potiorek, the Austro-Hungarian governor of Bosnia and Herzegovina.[108] The first anti-Serb demonstrations, led by the followers of Josip Frank, were organized in the early evening of 28 June in Zagreb. The following day, anti-Serb demonstrations in Sarajevo became more violent and could be characterized as a pogrom. The police and local authorities in the city did nothing to prevent anti-Serb violence. Writer Ivo Andrić referred to the violence in Sarajevo as the "Sarajevo frenzy of hate." Two Serbs were killed on the first day of pogrom in Sarajevo, many were attacked, while around 1,000 houses, shops, schools and institutions (such as banks, hotels, printing houses) owned by Serbs were razed or pillaged.
Following the assassination, Franz Joseph's daughter, Marie Valerie, noted that her father expressed his greater confidence in the new heir presumptive, his grandnephew Archduke Charles. The emperor admitted to his daughter, regarding the assassination: "For me, it is a relief from a great worry."
Trials and punishment
Sarajevo trial (October 1914)
Austro-Hungarian authorities arrested and prosecuted the Sarajevo assassins (except for Mehmedbašić who had escaped to Montenegro and was released from police custody there to Serbia) together with the agents and peasants who had assisted them on their way. The majority of the defendants were charged with conspiracy to commit high treason involving official circles in the Kingdom of Serbia. Conspiracy to commit high treason carried a maximum sentence of death which conspiracy to commit simple murder did not. The trial was held from 12 to 23 October with the verdict and sentences announced on 28 October 1914.
The adult defendants, facing the death penalty, portrayed themselves at trial as unwilling participants in the conspiracy. The examination of defendant Veljko Čubrilović (who helped coordinate the transport of the weapons and was a Narodna Odbrana agent) is illustrative of this effort. Čubrilović stated to the court: "Princip glared at me and very forcefully said 'If you want to know, it is for that reason and we are going to carry out an assassination of the Heir and if you know about it, you have to be quiet. If you betray it, you and your family will be destroyed.'" Under questioning by defense counsel Čubrilović described in more detail the basis of the fears that he said had compelled him to cooperate with Princip and Grabež." Čubrilović explained that he was afraid a revolutionary organization capable of committing great atrocities stood behind Princip and that he therefore feared his house would be destroyed and his family killed if he did not comply and explained that he knew such an organization existed in Serbia, at least at one time. When pressed for why he risked the punishment of the law, and did not take the protection of the law against these threats he responded: "I was more afraid of terror than the law." Another Narodna Odbrana agent, Mihajlo Jovanović, also claimed to have been against the assassination.
In order to refute the charge, the conspirators from Belgrade, who because of their youth did not face the death penalty, focused during the trial on putting blame on themselves and deflecting it from official Serbia and modified their court testimony from their prior depositions accordingly. Princip stated under cross-examination: "I am a Yugoslav nationalist and I believe in unification of all South Slavs in whatever form of state and that it be free of Austria." Princip was then asked how he intended to realize his goal and responded: "By means of terror." Cabrinović, though, testified that the political views that motivated him to kill Franz Ferdinand were views held in the circles he traveled in within Serbia. The court did not believe the defendants' stories claiming to hold official Serbia blameless. The verdict ran: "The court regards it as proved by the evidence that both the Narodna Odbrana and military circles in the Kingdom of Serbia in charge of the espionage service, collaborated in the outrage."
Prison terms, death sentences and acquittals were as follows:
NameSentence
Gavrilo Princip20 years
Nedjelko Čabrinović20 years
Trifun Grabež20 years
Vaso Čubrilović16 years
Cvjetko Popović13 years
Lazar Đukić10 years
Danilo IlićDeath by hanging (executed 3 February 1915)
Veljko ČubrilovićDeath by hanging (executed 3 February 1915)
Neđo KerovićDeath by hanging; commuted to 20 years in prison by Kaiser Franz-Joseph based on the recommendation of the Finance Minister
Mihajlo JovanovićDeath by hanging (executed 3 February 1915)
Jakov MilovićDeath by hanging; commuted to life in prison by Kaiser Franz-Joseph based on recommendation of the court and Finance Minister
Mitar KerovićLife in prison
Ivo Kranjcević10 years
Branko Zagorac3 years
Marko Perin3 years
Cvijan Stjepanović7 years
Nine defendantsAcquitted
At trial, Čabrinović had expressed his regrets for the murders. Following sentencing, Čabrinović received a letter of complete forgiveness from the three young children the assassins had orphaned. Čabrinović and Princip died of tuberculosis in prison. Those under the age of 20 years at the time of the crime could receive a maximum sentence of 20 years under Austrian-Hungarian law. The court heard arguments regarding Princip's age, as there was some doubt as to his true date of birth but concluded that Princip was under 20 at the time of the assassination. Because Bosnia and Herzegovina had not yet been assigned to Austria or to Hungary, the Austro-Hungarian Finance Minister administered Bosnia and Herzegovina and had responsibility for recommending clemency to the Kaiser.
Salonika trial (spring 1917)
In late 1916 and early 1917, secret peace talks took place between Austria-Hungary and France. There is circumstantial evidence that parallel discussions were held between Austria-Hungary and Serbia with Prime Minister Pašić dispatching his righthand man Stojan Protić and Regent Alexander dispatching his confidant Colonel Petar Živković to Geneva on secret business. Charles I of Austria laid out Austria-Hungary's key demand for returning Serbia to the control of the Serbian Government in exile: that Serbia should provide guarantees that there be no further political agitation emanating from Serbia against Austria-Hungary.
Indictees at the Salonika trial, after the verdict
For some time, Regent Alexander and officers loyal to him had planned to get rid of the military clique headed by Apis, as Apis represented a political threat to Alexander's per. The Austro-Hungarian peace demand gave added impetus to this plan. On 15 March 1917 Apis and the officers loyal to him were indicted, on various false charges unrelated to Sarajevo (the case was retried before the Supreme Court of Serbia in 1953 and all defendants were exonerated), by Serbian Court Martial on the French-controlled Salonika front. On 23 May Apis and eight of his associates were sentenced to death; two others were sentenced to 15 years in prison. One defendant died during the trial and the charges against him were dropped. The Serbian High Court reduced the number of death sentences to seven. Regent Alexander commuted four of the remaining death sentences, leaving just three death sentences in place. Amongst those tried, four of the defendants had confessed their roles in Sarajevo and their final sentences were as follows:
NameSentence
ApisDeath by firing squad (executed 26 June 1917) and 70 dinar court fee and additional witness fees
Ljuba VulovićDeath by firing squad (executed 26 June 1917) and 70 dinar court fee and additional witness fees
Rade MalobabićDeath by firing squad (executed 26 June 1917) and 70 dinar court fee and additional witness fees
Muhamed Mehmedbašić15 years in prison (commuted and released in 1919) and 60 dinar court fee and additional witness fees
In justifying the executions, Prime Minister Pašić wrote to his envoy in London:"...Dimitrijević (Apis) besides everything else admitted he had ordered Franz Ferdinand to be killed. And now who could reprieve them?"
As the three condemned men were driven to their execution, Apis remarked to the driver "Now it is clear to me and clear to you too, that I am to be killed today by Serbian rifles solely because I organized the Sarajevo outrage.
Vojislav Tankosić died in battle in late 1915 and so was not put on trial.
Controversy about responsibility
Serbia's "warning" to Austria-Hungary
Following the assassinations, Serbian Ambassador to France Milenko Vesnić and Serbian Ambassador to Russia Miroslav Spalajković put out statements claiming that Serbia had warned Austria-Hungary of the impending assassination. Serbia soon thereafter denied making warnings and denied knowledge of the plot. Prime Minister Pašić himself made these denials to Az Est on 7 July and to the Paris Edition of the New York Herald on 20 July. Other voices eventually spoke out on the "warning". As Serbian Education Minister Ljuba Jovanović wrote in Krv Sloventsva, in late May or early June, Prime Minister Pašić reviewed the plot of the impending assassination with members of his cabinet. On 18 June, a telegram, lacking in specifics, ordered Serbia's Ambassador to Vienna, Jovan Jovanović, to warn Austria-Hungary that Serbia had reason to believe there was a conspiracy to assassinate Franz Ferdinand in Bosnia. On 21 June, Ambassador Jovanović met with Austro-Hungarian Finance Minister Bilinski. According to Serbian Military Attaché to Vienna, Colonel Lesanin, Ambassador Jovanović, spoke to Bilinski and "...stressed in general terms the risks the Archduke heir apparent [sic] might run from the inflamed public opinion in Bosnia and Serbia. Some serious personal misadventure might befall him. His journey might give rise to incidents and demonstrations that Serbia would deprecate but that would have fatal repercussions on Austro-Serbian relations." Jovanović came back from the meeting with Bilinski and told Lesanin that "...Bilinski showed no sign of attaching great importance to the total message and dismissed it limiting himself to remarking when saying goodbye and thanking him: 'Let us hope nothing does happen.'" The Austro-Hungarian Finance Minister took no action based on Jovanović's remarks.
In 1924 J. Jovanović went public stating that his warning had been made on his own initiative, and what he said was that "Among the Serb youths (in the army) there may be one who will put a ball-cartridge in his rifle or revolver in place of a blank cartridge and he may fire it, the bullet might strike the man giving provocation (Franz Ferdinand)." J. Jovanović's account changed back and forth over the years and never adequately addressed Colonel Lesanin's statement. Bilinski did not speak openly on the subject, but his press department chief confirmed that a meeting had taken place including a vague warning, but there was no mention of an ethnic Serb Austro-Hungarian soldier shooting Franz Ferdinand.
In the days leading up to the assassination, Pašić was the caretaker prime minister because during this period the Serbian Government briefly fell to a political alliance led by the Serbian Military. The military favored promoting Jovan Jovanović to Foreign Minister,[140] and Jovanović's loyalties one might expect to have been divided and his orders therefore carried out poorly. By choosing a military loyalist to convey the message, and by not including any of the specifics such as the conspirators' names and weapons, Pašić, a survivor, hedged his bets against the various possible outcomes and consequences of the impending assassination.
Rade Malobabić
In 1914, Rade Malobabić was Serbian Military Intelligence's chief undercover operative against Austria-Hungary. His name appeared in Serbian documents captured by Austria-Hungary during the war. These documents describe the running of arms, munitions, and agents from Serbia into Austria-Hungary under Malobabić's direction.
Owing to the suppression by Serbia of Apis's confession and of the Salonika trial transcripts historians did not initially link Malobabić closely to the Sarajevo attack. Apis's confession, however, states that "I engaged Malobabić to organize the assassination on the occasion of the announced arrival of Franz Ferdinand to Sarajevo." At the Salonika trial, Colonel Ljubomir Vulović (head of the Serbian Frontiers Service) testified: 'In 1914 on occasion of my official trip from Loznica to Belgrade, I received a letter at the General Staff [signed by Marshal Putnik, Serbia's top military officer] noting that agents of Malobabić would come and a teacher whose name I don't recall (Danilo Ilić was a teacher but it is unclear if the teacher in question was Ilić as Ilić can be placed in Brod but not Loznica) so I could sent [sic] them into Bosnia.' Because of that 'I went to Loznica and either that day or very soon afterwards sent Rade and that teacher into Bosnia.' Soon thereafter occurred the Sarajevo assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand." On the eve of his execution, Malobabić told a priest: "They ordered me to go to Sarajevo when that assassination was to take place, and when everything was over, they ordered me to come back and fulfill other missions, and then there was the outbreak of the war." Vladimir Dedijer in The Road to Sarajevo presented additional testimonial evidence that Malobabić arrived in Sarajevo on the eve of the Sarajevo attack and gave the final go-ahead for the operation to Danilo Ilić. This meshes with Dedijer's theory that Djuro Ŝarac had given instructions to Ilić on 16 June canceling the assassination. Soon after their confessions, Serbia executed Malobabić, Vulović, and Apis on false charges. Serbia published no clarifications of their confessions with regards to the Sarajevo attack.
"Black Hand" or Serbian military intelligence?
Further information: Black Hand (Serbia)
An alternative theory to the Sarajevo attack being a Serbian Military Intelligence Operation was that it was a "Black Hand" operation. The "Black Hand" was a Serbian military society formed on 9 May 1911 by officers in the Army of the Kingdom of Serbia, originating in the conspiracy group that assassinated the Serbian royal couple in May 1903, led by captain Dragutin Dimitrijević (Commonly referred to as "Apis").
After Serbia's victory over Bulgaria in Macedonia in the Balkan Wars, the "Black Hand" became moribund because of the death of its president and the failure to replace him, an inactive secretary, casualties, broken links between its three-man cells, and a drying up of funding. By 1914 the "Black Hand" was no longer operating under its constitution but rather as a creature of the Chief of Serbian Military Intelligence, Apis, and its active ranks were composed mostly of Serbian officers loyal to Apis. Apis's confession to ordering the operation that begins with the phrase "As the Chief of the Intelligence Department of the General Staff", the fact that the military chain of command was invoked, the moribund nature of the "Black Hand" and the fact that under the "Black Hand" constitution Article 16, such an assassination could only be ordered by a vote of the Supreme Council Directorate, the President or the Secretary and no such order was made, are factors in favor of assigning responsibility to Serbian Military Intelligence. The fact that Milan Ciganović was involved, that the key officers involved were "Black Hand" members, that "Black Hand" Provincial Director for Bosnia and Herzegovina Vladimir Gaćinović was consulted and that there was no official budget for the operation favors assigning responsibility to the "Black Hand".
The newspaper clipping
At trial, it was noted that the three assassins from Belgrade tried to take all blame on themselves. Čabrinović claimed the idea of killing Franz Ferdinand came from a newspaper clipping he received in the mail at the end of March announcing Franz Ferdinand's planned visit to Sarajevo. He then showed the newspaper clipping to Princip and the next day they agreed they would kill Franz Ferdinand. Princip explained to the court he had already read about Franz Ferdinand's upcoming visit in German papers. Princip went on to testify that, at about the time of Easter (19 April), he wrote an allegorical letter to Ilić informing him of the plan to kill Franz Ferdinand. Grabež testified that he and Princip, also at about the time of Easter, agreed between them to make an assassination of either Governor Potiorek or Franz Ferdinand and a little later settled on Franz Ferdinand. The defendants refused or were unable to provide details under examination.
On 26 March Ilić and Mehmedbašić had already agreed to kill Franz Ferdinand based on instructions from Belgrade predating the newspaper clipping and the discussions amongst the three assassins in Belgrade.
Narodna Odbrana
Further information: Narodna Odbrana
Serbian Military Intelligence – through remnants of the "Black Hand" – penetrated the Narodna Odbrana, using its clandestine tunnel to smuggle the assassins and their weapons from Belgrade to Sarajevo. In the 5 June 1914 report by the President of the Narodna Odbrana Boža Milanović to Prime Minister Pašić, one can sense the frustration of the President over the hijacking of his organization in the final sentence dealing with Sarajevo: "Boža has informed all the agents that they should not receive anyone unless he produces the password given by Boža."
Milan Ciganović
Prime Minister Pašić received early information of the assassination plan. The information was received by Pašić early enough, according to Education Minister Ljuba Jovanović, for the government to order the border guards to prevent the assassins from crossing. This places the cabinet minister's discussions in late May and the information release to some time before that. Albertini concluded that the source of the information was most likely Milan Ciganović. Bogičević made a more forceful case.
The circumstantial evidence against Ciganović includes his sinecure government job, his protection by the Chief of Police and Serbia's failure to arrest him (Austria-Hungary demanded Serbia arrest Major Vojislav Tankosić and Ciganović, but Serbia arrested only Tankosić and lied saying that Ciganović could not be found), Serbia's protection of Ciganović during the war, and the government's provision for Ciganović after it. In 1917, all of the Sarajevo conspirators within Serbia's control were tried at Salonika on false charges, except Ciganović, who even gave evidence against his comrades at the trial.
Russian military attaché's office
Apis's confession to ordering the assassination of Franz Ferdinand states that Russian Military Attaché Artamonov promised Russia's protection from Austria-Hungary if Serbia would ever come under attack. While admitting funding of the intelligence network in Austro-Hungary, Artamonov denied the involvement of his office in the assassination in an interview with Albertini. Artamonov stated that he went on vacation to Italy leaving Assistant Military Attaché Alexander Werchovsky in charge and though he was in daily contact with Apis he did not learn of Apis's role until after the war had ended. Albertini writes that he "remained unconvinced by the behavior of this officer." Werchovsky admitted the involvement of his office and then fell silent on the subject.
There is evidence that Russia was at least aware of the plot before 14 June. De Schelking writes:
On 1 June 1914 (14 June new calendar), Emperor Nicholas had an interview with King Charles I of Roumania, at Constanza. I was there at the time ... yet as far as I could judge from my conversation with members of his (Russian Foreign Minister Sazonov's) entourage, he (Sazonov) was convinced that if the Archduke (Franz Ferdinand) were out of the way, the peace of Europe would not be endangered.
Consequences
Further information: Causes of World War I
Grave implications of the assassination were immediately recognized, as in this 29 June article with subtitles "War Sequel?" and "War May Result", and stating the assassination was "engineered by persons having a more mature organizing ability than that of the youthful assassins".
Serbien muss sterb[i]en! ("Serbia must die!"; last word altered to rhyme).
The propaganda caricature depicts Austria crushing the ape-like Serb.
The murder of the heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire and his wife produced widespread shock across European royal houses, and there was initially much sympathy for the Austrian position. Ordinary people did not really care about what happened, and on the evening of the assassination the crowds in Vienna listened to music and drank wine, as if nothing had happened. Within two days of the assassination, Austria-Hungary and Germany advised Serbia that it should open an investigation, but Secretary-General to the Serbian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Slavko Gruic, replied: "Nothing had been done so far and the matter did not concern the Serbian Government." An angry exchange followed between the Austrian Chargé d'Affaires at Belgrade and Gruic.
After conducting a criminal investigation, verifying that Germany would honor its military alliance, and persuading the skeptical Hungarian Count Tisza, Austria-Hungary issued a formal letter to the government of Serbia on 23 July 1914. The letter reminded Serbia of its commitment to respect the Great Powers' decision regarding Bosnia-Herzegovina, and to maintain good neighborly relations with Austria-Hungary. The letter contained specific demands that Serbia should accept, including the suppression of the publication of propaganda advocating the violent destruction of Austria-Hungary, the removal of the people behind this propaganda from the Serbian Military, the dissolution of the Serbian nationalist organization Narodna Odbrana, the arrest of the people on Serbian soil who were involved in the assassination plot and the prevention of the clandestine shipment of arms and explosives from Serbia to Austria-Hungary. It also demanded that Austro-Hungarian officials should take part in the Serbian inquiry into the assassination plot.
This letter became known as the July Ultimatum, and Austria-Hungary stated that if Serbia did not accept all of the demands in total within 48 hours, it would recall its ambassador from Serbia. After receiving a telegram of support from Russia, Serbia mobilized its army and responded to the letter by completely accepting point #8 demanding an end to the smuggling of weapons and punishment of the frontier officers who had assisted the assassins and completely accepting point #10 which demanded Serbia report the execution of the required measures as they were completed. Serbia partially accepted, finessed, disingenuously answered or politely rejected elements of the preamble and enumerated demands #1–7 and #9. The shortcomings of Serbia's response were published by Austria-Hungary. Austria-Hungary responded by breaking diplomatic relations. According to a 2021 study, Franz Ferdinand's absence was key to the breakdown of diplomacy and escalation into war, as Ferdinand had been the most powerful and effective proponent for peace in Vienna.
The next day, Serbian reservists being transported on tramp steamers on the Danube crossed onto the Austro-Hungarian side of the river at Temes-Kubin and Austro-Hungarian soldiers fired into the air to warn them off. The report of this incident was initially sketchy and reported to Emperor Franz-Joseph erroneously as "a considerable skirmish". Austria-Hungary then declared war and mobilized the portion of its army that would face the (already mobilized) Serbian Army on 28 July 1914. Under the Secret Treaty of 1892 Russia and France were obliged to mobilize their armies if any of the Triple Alliance mobilized. Russia partially mobilized along its Austrian border on 29 July, and on 30 July Russia ordered general mobilization. Russia's general mobilization set off full Austro-Hungarian and German mobilizations. Soon all the Great Powers except Italy had chosen sides and gone to war.
Today
The site of the assassination is marked by a small plaque, written in both Serbo-Croatian and English.
The consequences of his action were very bad for Bosnia. Bosnia ceased to exist in Yugoslavia, and Bosnian Muslims were not recognised until 1968. They were still much better rulers than the kingdom of Yugoslavia or communist Yugoslavia. You can look at the historical records and see how Austria-Hungary cared about issues like the rule of law. We lost so much in 1918.
— Fedzad Forto, editor of a Bosniak-Croat news agency, responding to claims that Princip helped liberate Bosnia and that Austria-Hungary was an occupying power.
The shots fired 100 years ago by Gavrilo Princip were not fired at Europe, they were shots for freedom, marking the start of the Serbs' fight for liberation from foreign occupiers.
— Milorad Dodik, Bosnian Serb politician and president of Republika Srpska.
Later, referring to Franz Ferdinand's assassination, Vaso Čubrilović said: "We destroyed a beautiful world that was lost forever due to the war that followed."
Following the breakup of Yugoslavia, Princip's legacy came under reevaluation in the various successor states. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bosniaks and Croats largely view Gavrilo Princip as a terrorist and an ethnic Serb nationalist. Many Serbs consider Princip a national hero. The 100th anniversary of the assassination was commemorated with a concert by the Vienna Philharmonic in the Sarajevo City Hall, in an event that was organized by the European Union. Austrian president Heinz Fischer was the guest of honour.[179] The World War I commemorations were boycotted by Serb nationalists and dignitaries, who, along with Bosnian Serbs, view "Princip as a hero." On the 100th anniversary of the assassination, a statue of Gavrilo Princip was erected in East Sarajevo. This was followed by another statue in Belgrade, which was erected in June 2015. Serbian history textbooks deny that Serbia or Princip were responsible for starting World War I, laying blame on the Central Powers instead. Milorad Dodik acknowledged that Bosnia is "still divided", but maintained that Princip was a "freedom fighter" and that Austria-Hungary had been an "occupier".
Princip's weapon, along with the car in which the Archduke was riding, his bloodstained uniform and the chaise longue on which he died, are on permanent display in the Heeresgeschichtliches Museum in Vienna, Austria. The bullet fired by Gavrilo Princip, sometimes referred to as "the bullet that started World War I", is a museum exhibit in the Konopiště Castle near the town of Benešov in the Czech Republic. The bronze medallion of Ferdinand and Sophie, which was part of a monument that was erected on the site of the assassination and demolished in 1918 during Yugoslav rule, is currently preserved in the Art Gallery of Bosnia and Herzegovina in Sarajevo.
