Gavrilo Princip: The Teenager Who Started World War I

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He’s likely the single most successful assassin in history. When 19-year-old Gavrilo Princip fired two shots in Sarajevo on June 28, 1914, killing the heir to the Austrian throne, he set in motion events that would change the course of history. A South Slavic nationalist, Princip’s actions would not only result in the creation of a South Slavic state, Yugoslavia, but also in the fall of empires and the outbreak of World War I. Compared to other assassins like John Wilkes Booth or Lee Harvey Oswald, Princip’s impact was monumental. Yet how much do most of us actually know about the teenager who started World War I?

Born to a poor peasant family in the desolate mountains of western Bosnia, Princip seemed destined to leave no mark on history. Sickly and small, his life was a world away from that of the powerful man he killed. This is the tale of Gavrilo Princip, the assassin who changed the world.

It was the summer of 1894 when Gavrilo Princip was born into a world of utter desolation. His parents’ home village of Oblija was little more than a hamlet clinging to the side of an unforgiving mountain. This was remote Bosnia, a place of stony ground, wild rivers, and bitter nighttime frosts. The locals knew it as Vokoyabina, which translates as “the place where wolves go.” It was also a place of biting poverty. The Princip family lived in a small house with a dirt floor, where Maria Princip gave birth to nine children, but only three survived. The boy’s father, Peter, was a part-time mailman and full-time peasant, working back-breaking hours under a feudal system that forced him to give his crops away to remote landlords.

Princip was born so weak that his father supposedly wrote him off. It was only when a local Orthodox priest suggested naming the child after the archangel Gabriel that the boy’s survival became assured. Whether that’s true or not, it highlights a core part of Princip’s background. Like their entire village, the Princip family was of the Orthodox faith, which in Bosnia’s diverse ethnic landscape meant they were Bosnian Serbs, as opposed to Catholic Bosnian Croats or Muslim Bosniaks.

By 1894, the Serbs already had their own independent kingdom, while many Bosnians did not. This fact would turn young Princip from a peasant son into a violent radical.

Now that we’ve established Gavrilo Princip’s background, we need to understand the political tensions in play in Bosnia. The path that led to an independent Serbia and a non-independent Bosnia began back in the 14th century. On June 28, 1389, the Ottoman Empire defeated the medieval Serbs at the Battle of Kosovo, opening up the Balkans for conquest. The Ottomans would eventually conquer all the way to Vienna before running out of steam.

Sadly for Constantinople, all that conquering sent them running smack into the Habsburgs, rulers of Austria and long-time emperors of the Holy Roman Empire. The Habsburgs were the Ottomans’ worst nightmare, hardcore Catholics who loved a good old-fashioned war. Over the next few centuries, Southeast Europe became an eternal battleground as the Habsburgs slowly pushed the Ottomans back.

For Serbs still smarting over their 1389 defeat at Kosovo, this was a cause for celebration. However, while the Habsburgs spent centuries supporting anti-Ottoman Serbs, it wasn’t out of goodwill. In the 19th century, the Ottoman Empire became known as the “sick man of Europe,” a state so weak that the Serbs were able to gain de facto independence, although Bosnia continued to suffer under Turkish rule.

This change of fortunes peaked in 1877 when Serbia and imperial Russia joined forces to give the Ottomans a significant blow, effectively ending their grip on the Balkans. It was at this point that the Habsburgs made their move, taking Bosnia for themselves at the Congress of Berlin. For the Serbs, this was a betrayal.

In August 1878, Austrian troops marched into Bosnia, and although the region remained a de jure part of the Ottoman Empire, it became an Austrian colony. This meant improved infrastructure but merely swapped one distant overlord for another. The resentment this created would turn Bosnia into a powder keg, and when it finally exploded, it would bring the Austro-Hungarian Empire crashing down.

Back in the desolate mountains of Bosnia, young Gavrilo Princip was having an average childhood. He helped his parents work the barren land and fished for trout in the cold mountain streams. However, he excelled at school in a time and place where illiteracy levels stood at a staggering 88 percent. Princip taught himself to read and discovered a whole other world.

In 1907, at the age of 13, Princip and his father set out to walk the 200 kilometers to Sarajevo. His older brother had offered to pay for his schooling, and the deal was sealed. A few weeks later, Princip was amid the bustle and energy of Sarajevo, ready to start a new life.

It was sheer coincidence that he arrived just as a major crisis erupted. While Princip had been learning to read, relations between Austria-Hungary and Serbia had been worsening. In 1908, the Habsburgs annexed Bosnia, which sent shockwaves through Serbia. The crisis was resolved when Germany backed Austria, and the only powers capable of opposing Berlin, France and Britain, didn’t care enough about Bosnia to start a war.

However, on the ground in Serbia and Bosnia, this became a catalyst for nationalism. Gavrilo Princip found himself swept up in this wave of revolutionary anger. He began to devour anarchist literature and fell in with like-minded Bosnian Serbs.

In 1910, the new nationalist movement got its first martyr when a Bosnian Serb attempted to assassinate Bosnia’s military governor. This inspired Princip and his friends to take action.

By 1911, the general feeling of revolution had started to coalesce into specific groups. In Serbia, the Black Hand emerged, while in Bosnia, the key group was Mlada Bosna, or Young Bosnia. Princip was drawn to this movement, which aimed to free Bosnia from the Habsburgs and unite it with Serbia.

In 1912, Princip was expelled from school for attending an anti-Habsburg rally. He wanted to leave Sarajevo to join the fight in Serbia, and in October 1912, the first Balkan War erupted. Princip attempted to join the Serbian army but was turned away due to his frail appearance.

Afterward, he returned to Belgrade, where he and his friends became immersed in the radical coffeehouse scene. As 1913 progressed, Princip’s thoughts turned increasingly towards violent action.

By May, the situation in Bosnia had escalated, and the military governor declared a state of emergency. In the summer of 1913, news broke that Archduke Franz Ferdinand would visit Sarajevo on June 28, a date laden with historical significance for Serbs.

Amid this climate of hatred, Gavrilo Princip made the fateful decision to assassinate the archduke. He and his co-conspirators practiced target shooting and prepared for the mission.

On the morning of the assassination, Princip took his position along the route. The first attempt to kill Ferdinand failed when another conspirator threw a bomb that missed its target.

Incredibly, after the failed assassination attempt, Ferdinand’s car took a wrong turn and ended up right in front of Princip. In that moment, he fired two shots, killing both the archduke and his wife.

The assassination sparked a series of events that led to World War I. Austria-Hungary blamed Serbia for the attack and declared war, triggering a complex web of alliances that pulled the entire continent into conflict.

By the time Princip was put on trial, the war was already underway. He declared his motives as a South Slavist dedicated to uniting the South Slavic people.

Ultimately, Princip was sentenced to 20 years in prison, where he suffered from tuberculosis and died at the age of 23. His actions had changed the world, leading to the collapse of empires and the creation of new nations.

Gavrilo Princip’s legacy is complex. Initially celebrated as a hero, his reputation shifted over time, especially after the breakup of Yugoslavia. Today, views on Princip largely depend on ethnicity, with Serbs often celebrating him while Bosniaks and Croats see him as a terrorist.

Regardless of personal opinions, there’s no denying that Princip is a significant figure in history. His actions were pivotal in a moment that changed the course of the 20th century.

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