How Is Archduke Franz Ferdinand Assassination Justified

There are many people throughout history who have been assassinated due to their actions or beliefs. More than often assassinations were unjustified and shouldn’t have occurred in the first place, but some helped society. Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir of the throne of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, was one of the people who were assassinated because of his actions. He held up the process of the independence of Bosnia from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, causing chaos in Europe. As a result, he was shot inside of a car in Sarajevo, Bosnia by Serbian nationalist who didn’t want him to keep Bosnia a part of the Austria-Hungary Empire (Bodden16). The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand was justified because his assassination gave independence …show more content…
Bosnia along with Herzegovina were given to the Austro-Hungarian Empire from the Ottoman Empire, annexed in 1908, while other countries such as Serbia gained their independence. Serbia wanted to combine with Bosnia in order to form Greater Serbia because Bosnia’s population consisted of Serb ethnicity (Bodden 16). In fact, Serbia posed a great threat to the Austro-Hungarian Empire rule over Bosnia, because Serbia provided Bosnia a reason to want to revolt against the Empire. Serbian nationalist planned an attack with the help of Black Hand, a Serbian terrorist group (Bodden 16). Despite multiple assassination attempts, Archduke Franz Ferdinand refused to allow Bosnia its freedom and visited the capital Sarajevo despite warnings not to go. Archduke Franz Ferdinand refused to leave Sarajevo because he wanted to show that his family had control over Sarajevo (Trueman). Archduke Franz Ferdinand said “Our life is constantly in danger. One has to rely upon God” (Bodden 33). Clearly, Ferdinand’s actions and thoughts showed that he was arrogant and unwilling to let go of Bosnia. Despite the threats that Bosnia and Serbia posed to Austria- Hungarian Empire, Ferdinand refused to heed the warning signs and grant Bosnia independence. Therefore, his assassination was inevitable and justified because it was the only way for Bosnia to …show more content…
The Austrian government was apprehensive of the thought of starting war; however, Austria’s ally Germany was ready. Some decision makers in Vienna, Austria wanted a ‘reckoning’ with Serbia for a while and felt “the Serbs had to ‘be dealt with’ (Mombauer). The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand offered an opportunity to trigger a war between Austria-Hungary and Serbia. The people in Germany felt that European war was going to occur regardless and should happen sooner than later before the Triple Entente powers became too powerful to defeat (Mombauer). Archduke Franz Ferdinand was only half the problem that started World War I. There was already tension in Europe between the world powers because of the need for new colonies, economic and industrial expansions and the fear of war. As a result, the most powerful countries expanded their militaries and formed alliances to assure safety of the countries if there was potentially any chance of a war, Triple Alliance and Triple Entente. Germany thought his assassination was the “golden opportunity to test the Entente powers (Mombauer). World War I was going to happen no matter what because the tension was so tight in Europe between the world powers. If the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand hadn’t occurred surely there would have been another reason for the start of