Unification or Death ( sr, Ujedinjenje ili smrt, italics=yes, sr-Cyrl, Уједињење или смрт), popularly known as the Black Hand ( sr, Crna ruka, italics=yes, links=no, sr-Cyrl, Црна рука), was a
secret military society formed in 1901 by officers in the
Army of the Kingdom of Serbia. It gained a reputation for its alleged involvement in the
assassination
Assassination is the murder of a prominent or important person, such as a head of state, head of government, politician, world leader, member of a royal family or CEO. The murder of a celebrity, activist, or artist, though they may not have a ...
of
Archduke Franz Ferdinand in
Sarajevo
Sarajevo ( ; cyrl, Сарајево, ; ''see names in other languages'') is the capital and largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 275,524 in its administrative limits. The Sarajevo metropolitan area including Sarajev ...
in 1914 and for the earlier
assassination of the Serbian royal couple in 1903, under the aegis of Captain
Dragutin Dimitrijević ( "Apis").
The society formed to unite all of the territories with a
South Slavic majority not then ruled by either
Serbia
Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hung ...
or
Montenegro
)
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. It took inspiration primarily from the
unification of Italy
The unification of Italy ( it, Unità d'Italia ), also known as the ''Risorgimento'' (, ; ), was the 19th-century political and social movement that resulted in the consolidation of different states of the Italian Peninsula into a single s ...
in 1859–1870 but also from the
unification of Germany
The unification of Germany (, ) was the process of building the modern German nation state with federal features based on the concept of Lesser Germany (one without multinational Austria), which commenced on 18 August 1866 with adoption of ...
in 1871. Through its connections to the June 1914
assassination
Assassination is the murder of a prominent or important person, such as a head of state, head of government, politician, world leader, member of a royal family or CEO. The murder of a celebrity, activist, or artist, though they may not have a ...
of
Archduke Franz Ferdinand in
Sarajevo
Sarajevo ( ; cyrl, Сарајево, ; ''see names in other languages'') is the capital and largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 275,524 in its administrative limits. The Sarajevo metropolitan area including Sarajev ...
, carried out by the members of the youth movement
Young Bosnia
Young Bosnia ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Mlada Bosna, Млада Босна) was a separatist and revolutionary movement active in the Condominium of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Austria-Hungary before World War I. Its members were predominantly ...
, the Black Hand is often viewed as instrumental in starting
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...
(1914–1918) by precipitating the
July Crisis of 1914, which eventually led to
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...
's
invasion
An invasion is a military offensive in which large numbers of combatants of one geopolitical entity aggressively enter territory owned by another such entity, generally with the objective of either: conquering; liberating or re-establishing co ...
of the
Kingdom of Serbia
The Kingdom of Serbia ( sr-cyr, Краљевина Србија, Kraljevina Srbija) was a country located in the Balkans which was created when the ruler of the Principality of Serbia, Milan I, was proclaimed king in 1882. Since 1817, the Prin ...
in August 1914.
Background
Apis' conspiracy group and the May Coup
In August 1901, a group of lower officers headed by captain
Dragutin Dimitrijević "Apis" established a conspiracy group (called the Black Hand in literature), against the dynasty.
The first meeting was held on 6 September 1901. In attendance were captains
Radomir Aranđelović Radomir may refer to:
People
* Radomir (given name), a Slavic male given name
* Gavril Radomir of Bulgaria (died 1015), Tsar of Bulgaria
Places
* , a village in Cetinje Municipality, Montenegro
* Radomir (mountain), a mountain peak on the Bulgaria ...
,
Milan F. Petrović
Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...
, and
Dragutin Dimitrijević, as well as lieutenants
Antonije Antić,
Dragutin Dulić, Milan Marinković, and
Nikodije Popović. They made a plan to kill the royal couple—
King Alexander I Obrenović and
Queen Draga. On the night of 28/29 May 1903, Captain Apis personally led a group of Army officers who murdered the royal couple at the
Old Palace in
Belgrade (
Old Style
Old Style (O.S.) and New Style (N.S.) indicate dating systems before and after a calendar change, respectively. Usually, this is the change from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar as enacted in various European countries between 158 ...
). Along with the royal couple, the conspirators killed Prime Minister
Dimitrije Cincar-Marković, Minister of the Army
Milovan Pavlović, and General-Adjutant
Lazar Petrović. This became known as the
May Coup.
Narodna Odbrana
On 8 October 1908, just two days after
Austria annexed Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbian ministers, officials, and generals held a meeting at the City Hall in Belgrade. They founded a semi-secret society, the ''
Narodna Odbrana'' ("National Defense") which gave
Pan-Serbism a focus and an organization. The purpose of the group was to liberate Serbs under the
Austro-Hungarian occupation. They also shared anti-Austrian propaganda and organized spies and saboteurs to operate within the occupied provinces. Satellite groups were formed in
Slovenia
Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, and ...
, Bosnia, Herzegovina, and
Istria
Istria ( ; Croatian and Slovene: ; ist, Eîstria; Istro-Romanian, Italian and Venetian: ; formerly in Latin and in Ancient Greek) is the largest peninsula within the Adriatic Sea. The peninsula is located at the head of the Adriatic betwee ...
. The Bosnian group became deeply associated with local groups of pan-Serb activists such as ''Mlada Bosna'' ("
Young Bosnia
Young Bosnia ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Mlada Bosna, Млада Босна) was a separatist and revolutionary movement active in the Condominium of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Austria-Hungary before World War I. Its members were predominantly ...
").
Establishment
Unification or Death was established at the beginning of May 1911,
and the original constitution of the organization was signed on 9 May.
Ljuba Čupa
Ljubomir S. Jovanović ( sr-cyr, Љубомир С. Јовановић, 1877–25 June 1913), known as Ljuba Čupa (Љуба Чупа), was a Serbian guerilla fighter, member of the Black Hand, soldier in the Balkan Wars, and journalist.
Life
He ...
,
Bogdan Radenković, and
Vojislav Tankosić wrote the constitution of the organization,
modeled after similar German secret nationalist associations and the Italian
Carbonari
The Carbonari () was an informal network of secret revolutionary societies active in Italy from about 1800 to 1831. The Italian Carbonari may have further influenced other revolutionary groups in France, Portugal, Spain, Brazil, Uruguay and Ru ...
.
[ The organization was mentioned in the Serbian parliament as the "Black Hand" in late 1911.]
By 1911–12, Narodna Odbrana had established ties with the Black Hand, and the two became "parallel in action and overlapping in membership".
1911–13
The organization used the magazine ''Pijemont'' (the Serbian name for Piedmont
it, Piemontese
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, the kingdom that led the unification of Italy
The unification of Italy ( it, Unità d'Italia ), also known as the ''Risorgimento'' (, ; ), was the 19th-century political and social movement that resulted in the consolidation of different states of the Italian Peninsula into a single s ...
under the House of Savoy
The House of Savoy ( it, Casa Savoia) was a royal dynasty that was established in 1003 in the historical Savoy region. Through gradual expansion, the family grew in power from ruling a small Alpine county north-west of Italy to absolute rule of ...
) for the dissemination of their ideas. The magazine was founded by Ljuba Čupa
Ljubomir S. Jovanović ( sr-cyr, Љубомир С. Јовановић, 1877–25 June 1913), known as Ljuba Čupa (Љуба Чупа), was a Serbian guerilla fighter, member of the Black Hand, soldier in the Balkan Wars, and journalist.
Life
He ...
in August 1911.
1914
By 1914, the group had hundreds of members, many of them Serbian Army officers. The goal of uniting Serb-inhabited territories was implemented by training guerilla fighters and saboteurs. The Black Hand was organized at the grassroots level in cells of three to five members, supervised by district committees and by a Central Committee in Belgrade, whose ten-member executive committee was primarily led by Colonel Dragutin Dimitrijević "Apis". To ensure secrecy, members rarely knew much more than the other members of their own cell and one superior above them. New members swore the oath:
The Black Hand took over the terrorist actions of '' Narodna Odbrana'' and deliberately worked
to obscure any distinctions between the two groups, trading on the prestige and network of the older organization. Black Hand members held important army and government positions. Crown Prince Alexander was an enthusiastic financial supporter. The group held influence over government appointments and policy. The Serbian government was fairly well-informed of Black Hand activities.
Friendly relations had fairly well cooled by 1914. The Black Hand was displeased with Prime Minister Nikola Pašić
Nikola Pašić ( sr-Cyrl, Никола Пашић, ; 18 December 1845 – 10 December 1926) was a Serbian and Yugoslav politician and diplomat who was a leading political figure for almost 40 years. He was the leader of the People's Radical ...
and thought that he did not act aggressively enough for the Pan-Serb cause. The Black Hand engaged in a bitter power struggle over several issues, such as who would control territories that Serbia had annexed during the Balkan Wars
The Balkan Wars refers to a series of two conflicts that took place in the Balkan States in 1912 and 1913. In the First Balkan War, the four Balkan States of Greece, Serbia, Montenegro and Bulgaria declared war upon the Ottoman Empire and defe ...
. By then, disagreeing with the Black Hand was dangerous, as political murder was one of its tools.
In 1914, Apis allegedly decided that Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the heir-apparent of Austria, should be assassinated, as he was trying to pacify the Serbians, which would prevent a revolution if he was successful. Towards that end, three young Bosnian Serbs were allegedly recruited to kill the Archduke. They were certainly trained in bomb throwing and marksmanship by current and former members of the Serbian military. Gavrilo Princip
Gavrilo Princip ( sr-Cyrl, Гаврило Принцип, ; 25 July 189428 April 1918) was a Bosnian Serb student who assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg, in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914.
Princ ...
, Nedeljko Čabrinović, and Trifko Grabež were smuggled across the border back into Bosnia by a chain of contacts similar to the Underground Railroad
The Underground Railroad was a network of clandestine routes and safe houses established in the United States during the early- to mid-19th century. It was used by enslaved African Americans primarily to escape into free states and Canada. ...
.
The decision to kill the Archduke was initiated by Apis and not sanctioned by the full Executive Committee (if Apis was involved at all, a question that remains in dispute[Vladimer Dedijer, ''The Road to Sarajevo'']).
Those involved probably realised that their plot would result in war between Austria and Serbia and had every reason to expect that Russia would side with Serbia. They likely did not, however, anticipate that the assassination would start the chain of events leading to World War I.
Others in the government and some of the Black Hand Executive Council were not as confident of Russian aid since Russia had recently let them down.
When word of the plot allegedly percolated through Black Hand leadership and the Serbian government (Prime Minister Pašić was informed of two armed men being smuggled across the border, but it is not clear if Pašić knew of the planned assassination), Apis was supposedly told not to proceed. He may have made a half-hearted attempt to intercept the young assassins at the border, but they had already crossed. Other sources say the attempted 'recall' began only after the assassins had reached Sarajevo. The 'recall' appears to have made Apis look like a loose cannon and the young assassins like independent zealots. The 'recall' took place fully two weeks before the Archduke's visit. The assassins idled in Sarajevo
Sarajevo ( ; cyrl, Сарајево, ; ''see names in other languages'') is the capital and largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 275,524 in its administrative limits. The Sarajevo metropolitan area including Sarajev ...
for a month. Nothing more was done to stop them.
Ideology
The group encompassed a range of ideological outlooks, from conspiratorially-minded army officers to idealistic youths, sometimes tending towards republicanism, despite their patrons in nationalistic royal circles. The movement's leader, Apis, had been instrumental in the June 1903 coup which had brought King Petar Karađorđević to the Serbian throne following 45 years of rule by the rival Obrenović dynasty. The group was denounced as nihilist by the Austro-Hungarian
Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...
press and compared to the Russian People's Will and the Chinese Assassination Corps.
Legacy
In 1938 a conspiracy group to overthrow the Yugoslav regency The Yugoslav regency was a three-member governorship headed by Prince Regent Paul of Yugoslavia in place of Peter II until coming of age. It was in effect between November 1934 and 27 March 1941.
Background
On 9 October 1934 IMRO member Vlado Che ...
was founded by, among others, members of the Serbian Cultural Club (SKK). The organization was modeled after the Black Hand, including the recruitment process. Two members of the Black Hand, Antonije Antić and Velimir Vemić Velimir Vemić (1870 – after 1938) was a Serbian officer. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison at the Salonika trail in 1917 for his participation in the Black Hand, and his role in the assassination of King Aleksandar Obrenović and his wife ...
, were the organization's military advisors.
See also
* Serbian Chetnik Organization
Serbian may refer to:
* someone or something related to Serbia, a country in Southeastern Europe
* someone or something related to the Serbs, a South Slavic people
* Serbian language
* Serbian names
See also
*
*
* Old Serbian (disambiguation) ...
* Young Bosnia
Young Bosnia ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Mlada Bosna, Млада Босна) was a separatist and revolutionary movement active in the Condominium of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Austria-Hungary before World War I. Its members were predominantly ...
* Serb revolutionary organizations This list includes revolutionary organizations aimed at liberating and unifying Serb-inhabited territories into the historical national state of Serbia—it only includes organizations established after the Principality of Serbia (1815) and before t ...
References
Sources
*
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Further reading
*
*
*
*
*
External links
*
* Lutz, Hermann
"The Serbian 'Black Hand',"
''The Freeman'', Vol. 7, N°. 164, pp. 179–81, 2 May 1923.
* John Paul Newman
Black Hand
in
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