Austro-Hungarian Sarajevo: The Powder-Keg That Broke Peace

On June 28th, 1914, the world changed forever, not in a positive way perceivable by any means.

On June 28th, 1914, a series of gunshots near the Latin Bridge in Sarajevo changed world history forever

On June 28th, 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the crown prince to the throne of Austro-Hungarian Empire, was shot dead along with his wife Sophie by a Bosnian Serb nationalist named Gavrilo Princip in Sarajevo. One month later, Austro-Hungarian Empire declared war on the Kingdom of Serbia using the assassination as an excuse, which led to Serbia's orthodox ally Russia to declare war on Austro-Hungarian Empire. Then their respective allies declared war on each other. In the next four years, 16 million people were dead due to the war, and millions were wounded and lost their homes.

The corner where Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated

Back in the days, people called this war "The Great War" - no one in the history of civilization had experienced any military conflict at something even close. Today, we know this war as "World War One", as there was an even more devastating global war taking place roughly 30 years later.(click here to read about Archduke Franz Ferdinand's castle in Bohemia)

Miljacka River and Austro-Hungarian style buildings

The beginning of all this started in 1878. when the Ottoman Empire was defeated by Russia and was forced to hand over the administration rights of Bosnia and Herzegovina to Austro-Hungarian Empire. As the influence of "Sickman of Europe" continued to decline, it eventually prompted Austro-Hungarian Empire to annex Bosnia and Herzegovina. Franz Ferdinand, the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne had long envisioned a new tri-ethnic Empire which would include not only Austrians and Hungarians, but also the Slavs.  The annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina was a huge accomplishment to the Austro-Hungarian expansion in the Balkans.However, Franz Ferdinand warned that a blatant invasion of Serbia might lead to some very serious consequences to the Austro-Hungarian Empire. At the same time, the Kingdom of Serbia had frictions with its neighbours as it had long aimed at creating a united Yugoslavia. 

Austro-Hungarian style buildings in Sarajevo

Evening in the Austro-Hungarian part of Sarajevo

Ironically, the war Franz Ferdinand voiced against was declared in the name of his own assassination. The reason why the Archduke visited Sarajevo was to oversee a military drill - as if a war were to breakout between Serbia and Austro-Hungarian Empire. Prior to his eventual demise, the Archduke and his wife Sophie had already encountered a failed assassination attempt. The Archduke would have avoided the assassination as they changed the plan to visit those who were wounded in the first failed assassination. However, the carriage driver mistakenly followed the old planned route, which led them right to where a young Bosnian Serb named Gavrilo Princip was standing. The shots were fired from Princip's pistol, and Archduke Ferdinand died right on the spot. Using the assassination as an excuse, Austro-Hungarian Empire declared war on Kingdom of Serbia on month later, which triggered one of the bloodiest war in human history. 

University of Sarajevo

Architecture in Sarajevo built in Austro-Hungarian era

Sarajevo's Academy of Fine Arts - once an Evangelical church constructed in 1899

The role Gavrilo Princip played in this episode of modern history, even today, is highly controversial within Bosnia. Bosnian Serbs and the former Yugoslavian government hailed him as the anti-imperialist national hero. The Latin Bridge was even called "Princip Bridge" during the Yugoslav era, only to be changed back after the independence of Bosnia. In contrast, many Croats and Muslim Bosniaks do not even hold a favorable view of Princip. 

Mijacka River

Historically, Sarajevo had been home to a large number of Bosnian Serbs. This could be reflected in the Cathedral Church of the Nativity of the Theotokos in the center of Sarajevo. Built in 1872 during late- Ottoman era, the Ottoman government commissioned the construction of this Orthodox cathedral and even ensured that such process would not be interrupted by the local Muslims. The cathedral was built just outside of the traditional Ottoman neighbourhood, which became one of the earliest structures in what would become the "Austro-Hungarian Quarter" of Sarajevo. Just a few blocks away, one would find the largest catholic church in Bosnia built in 1889 after the Austro-Hungarian Empire took over the city:  The Sacred Heart Cathedral.

Cathedral Church of the Nativity of the Theotokos

Sacred Heart Cathedral in Sarajevo

The unofficial boundary of Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian Sarajevo

Sarajevo grew quickly under Austro-Hungarian rule. In fact, the imperial court built the world's very first electric tram system not in Vienna, but in Sarajevo. This was a common gesture used by the Habsburg dynasty to appease ethnic minority regions of the Empire. Despite Austro-Hungarian Sarajevo lasted only half of the century, it nonetheless changed the skyline of the city forever. Many of the landmarks, including the pseudo Ottoman style City Hall, were all constructed during this period.

A tram running past Bosnia's central bank

An historic beer brewery in Sarajevo

Following the end of World War One, Sarajevo joined the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. In the Socialist Yugoslavia, the city became a major cultural center where films and music were produced.  Yet another irony was that the city did not endure much damage during the war it triggered, as most of the war in the Balkans were fought in Serbia near Belgrade. The city's fate, however, was tragically changed forever following the collapse of Yugoslavia in the early 1990s.  In the next post, we will explore how Sarajevo got its scars visitors like you and I could find at almost every single corner of the city, which silently told the tragedy of Sarajevo not even that long ago.

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                                                                     Chapter 2

In the middle of the night, one of the railway bridges that connected Sarajevo to the outside world was blown up.

In the nearby forest, amid the usual tranquility of the night in the outskirts of Sarajevo, the silence was broken by the sound of leaves being stepped on by a group of people running away from their capturers.

"Boys, run!" yelled the man in brown trench coat.

Behind them was a group of German soldiers. They just happened to pass through the area. Upon hearing the sound of the explosion, the truck was redirected to the source of the disturbance. One of the soldiers spotted some dark shadows  in the forest moving away from the already destroyed bridge, and that was how the wild chase began. 

All of sudden another explosion took place, although at a much smaller scale - one of the culprits stepped onto the mine set by the German occupiers. Then the man in brown trench coat realized that they were in the middle of a landmine zone. 

"Walter, what do we do now?" The young man beside him asked.

"This way". The man in brown trench coat pointed at the direction of the railway tracks. As an experienced soldier, he knew that the Germans wouldn't set up any landmines along the railroad - because they themselves relied on them for the transportation of both supplies and reinforcements.

As the man and his minion reached safely in between the tracks, two German soldiers suddenly appeared in front of them.

"Stop it right there, you have nowhere to run."

In the next few seconds, the man in brown trench coat pulled out his handgun and fired two shots.  The minion was in shock in the beginning, and only found two German soldiers lying on the ground moments later. 

"Come this way", the two men heard a whisper from the nearby platform amid the sound of intense gunfire. A man in railway worker uniform pointed the two towards the controller's room. Inside the room, the door towards the underground bunker was already opened by Obran: the switchman who was also an underground partisan. The duo quickly and quietly entered the bunker, which neither of them had any idea where would it lead to. When Obran was about to close the door, the man in brown trench coat turned around his head and looked at Obran. He wanted to remember the face of the man who just saved them.

The two men escaped from a hidden exit which was literally unnoticeable from the outside. For them, it was rather an easy task: all they had to do was to push a gate they found inside the bunker. Eventually, the duo found themselves in the middle of a rather sleepy Sarajevo.

After bidding farewell to his minion, the man in brown trench coat was walking alone. All of sudden two men inside a black Mercedes Benz rolled down the window and signaled the man in brown trench coat to hop onto the car.

Half an hour later, they arrived at Sarajevo's historic city hall building. The man in brown trench coat was escorted by the two men inside the Mercedes to the main office of the building. 

The door to the office opened. On the other end of the conference table, there sat SS Colonel von Dietrich.