Assassination: The Royal Family's 1000-Year Curse (55 page)

When George arrived back in England, he learned that Japan had seized Korea, and Italy had seized Libya. Lower on the scale of importance, American Sam Zemurray (a refugee from Russia) financed the overthrow of the government of Honduras in return for land and tax concessions for his banana business – Honduras therefore became the first country to be known as a ‘banana republic’.

At home, George found a country torn by strife. The first four years of the reign saw strikes by miners, dockers, seamen, lightermen, railway workers and others, as trade unions grew powerful with workers disappointed at the failure of their Labour members of parliament to do anything to improve living or working conditions. In fact, conditions deteriorated with the economy going downhill as Britain’s domination of world trade was overtaken by the United States and Germany.

It was not just the working classes. Dissent spread throughout the population, including increased militancy by the Suffragettes seeking votes for women. Another problem had been growing for generations: it was the demand for home rule for Ireland. Dealing with it was horribly complicated by religion. Protestants were the majority in the north-east of the island, Catholics were the majority elsewhere; and the Protestants wanted to remain part of the United Kingdom.

As a first step, in 1912 a Bill was passed by the Commons giving Ireland its own Parliament. The Bill was opposed by the Lords, but now that meant a delay of two years. When 1914 came along and civil war in Ireland was a real possibility, it was decided that there should be further negotiations on how to deal with Ulster where six of the eight counties were predominately Protestant. It was all put aside as attention turned to the Balkans.

45 To prevent the loss of the crown jewels to the country, the law prohibits their removal from the United Kingdom so as to stop monarchs from selling or pawning them abroad. So George had to have a new crown made for his visit to India.

In 1914, few remembered Bismark’s throw-away remark that “One day the great European war will come out of some damned foolish thing in the Balkans”. He was about to be proved right.

When Austrian Emperor Franz-Josef’s son killed his mistress and then shot himself at the Mayerling hunting lodge, that left the Emperor’s brother, Karl, as the heir. Karl died seven years later, and his son Franz Ferdinand became the heir. The new heir wished to marry Countess Sophie Chotek. She was not royalty, and the Emperor forbade the marriage; in order to marry a member of the Imperial House of Habsburg one had to be a member of a reigning or formerly reigning European dynasty. Following pressure from the Tsar, the Pope and the Emperor of Germany, Franz-Josef reluctantly consented to the marriage provided it was morganatic – a legal union, but not entitling the passage of the husband’s succession, titles or property to his wife and children (also known as a left-handed marriage because at the wedding the groom holds the bride’s hand with his left hand instead of the right one). It meant that after they married, Sophie did not become the Archduchess, she had no royal status and she could not even stand or sit with her husband at formal events or ride beside him in the royal carriage.

However, Franz Ferdinand was a Field Marshal and Inspector General of the Austrian Army, so on military occasions, as the wife of a senior officer, Sophie could accompany him. When General Potiorek, the Austrian governor of Bosnia, invited Franz Ferdinand to attend military manoeuvres and to open the state museum in the capital, Sarajevo, in June 1914, Franz Ferdinand jumped at the chance. He would be able to celebrate his wedding anniversary with his wife at his side.

Bosnia used to be a Turkish territory, but since 1878 it had been governed by Austria-Hungary, and they annexed it in 1908. Tension grew because the population was largely Serb. The Serbs, humiliated by the annexation, wanted to be part of Serbia, not Austria-Hungary; and Serbia was eager to rebuild its fourteenth century empire, having already conquered Macedonia and Kosovo.

A secret Serb organisation, ‘Unification or Death’ but better known as ‘The Black Hand’, angered that the Archduke should visit Sarajevo on the anniversary of the Turks’ conquest of Serbia in 1389, decided to assassinate Franz Ferdinand. Three young Serbs agreed to carry out the killing, and they made their way to Sarajevo where they were joined by four others. They were given hand grenades, pistols, ammunition, money and suicide pills.

After watching the manoeuvres in the early morning of Sunday 28th June, their wedding anniversary, the Archduke and his wife arrived at Sarajevo railway station. The motorcade made its way to the Filippovic barracks. Having reviewed the troops, at 10.00am they left for the town hall. Franz Ferdinand and his wife were in a Gräf & Stift convertible with its roof folded down; it was owned by Count von Harrach, a friend of the Archduke. The route to the town hall was via Appel Quay, which ran alongside the Miljacka River. Franz Ferdinand gave instructions to drive slowly, and the cars proceeded at about 10 mph.

All seven assassins were stationed along Appel Quay. The cars passed the first assassin, Muhamed Mehmedbasic; he had a hand grenade, but he did nothing. The second assassin, Nedjelko Cabrinovic, also had a hand grenade. It was not designed to explode on impact, rather it exploded 12 seconds after the cap was snapped off. Cabrinovic knocked the cap off against a lamppost, but he could not wait the necessary few seconds before throwing the grenade because by then the Archduke’s car would have gone past him. Desperate to play his part, Cabrinovic threw the grenade straight away. It hit the folded-down roof behind the Archduke, and bounced into the street, exploding as the next car drove over it. Two of the passengers and several policemen and bystanders were injured. The other cars sped away to the town hall, travelling too fast for the remaining assassins to do anything.

Cabrinovic swallowed his suicide pill, and immediately vomited it up. So he threw himself into the river. However, the water was only five inches deep, and he was pulled out by the angry crowd and beaten until he was taken away by the police. It was all over; or was it?

When the reception at the town hall ended, Franz Ferdinand announced that rather than open the museum, he wanted to go to the hospital to visit those who had been injured by the grenade. When a staff officer warned against it, Potiorek responded: “Do you think Sarajevo is full of assassins?” Off they went, General Potiorek sitting next to the driver, and Count von Harrach standing on the left running-board as extra protection. They drove back along Appel Quay, and then turned right into Franz Josef Street. But that was the way to the museum, not the hospital. The driver had not been told of the change of plan. “Stop! This is the wrong way!”, General Potiorek shouted. “We are supposed to take the Appel Quay!”. The driver stopped, and prepared to reverse into Appel Quay.

In the meantime, one of the assassins, Gavrilo Princip, having accepted that the venture had failed, decided to go to Schiller’s Café and Delicatessen for lunch. After finishing his meal, Princip left the premises. As he stepped on to the pavement on Franz Josef Street, imagine his surprise; there, right in front of him was the Graf & Stift convertible with the Archduke and his wife on the back seat like sitting ducks. Princip pulled out his pistol, stepped on to the unguarded right running-board and shot Sophie in the abdomen and the Archduke in the neck. Both died within minutes.

Back in Austria, the Emperor could barely conceal his joy. The two bodies were taken to Vienna to lie in state for four hours, no foreign dignitaries being allowed to pay their respects. Then, in the middle of the night, the coffins were put on a railway carriage, attached to a milk train and taken away.

Princip and many of those connected with the assassination (other than Mehmedbasic) were arrested and put on trial. Some were executed, some imprisoned, a few acquitted. As Princip was under 20 years old, he could not be executed; he was sentenced to 20 years in prison. He died of tuberculosis in April 1918 (weighing only six stone, that is 84 pounds or 38 kilos, as a result of malnutrition, disease and the amputation of an arm), by which time most of the world was engulfed in the war started by his bullet.

Having checked that they would have German support, the Austro-Hungarian government delivered a 48-hour ultimatum to Serbia with demands that they knew could never be accepted. Although they made every effort to agree to the terms, Serbia could not stomach all of them, particularly the requirement that Austrian police should be entitled to go into Serbia to halt all anti-Austrian activity and propaganda. On 28th July, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia. It was clear that Russia would support their fellow Slavs; also, the Russians could not allow a major power to move south and threaten the entrance to the Black Sea through which most of Russia’s foreign trade passed.

There was a short period of caution. The Austro-Hungarians could not attack Serbia, then they could not defend against Russia; Russia could not attack Austria-Hungary, then they could not defend against Germany; Germany could not attack Russia, then they could not defend against France, which was bound by treaty to support the Russians.

Mobilisation, making troops ready for war, was the trigger. Germany was ready to mobilise; it would take them a few days. Russia, with its vast territory, poor administration and antiquated rail system, needed weeks to mobilise. The Russians could not allow the Germans to mobilise first; if the Germans then attacked, they would be deep into Russian territory before the Russian Army was in a position to resist. So the Russians mobilised. It was seen as an act of war in itself, as it was said that no army ever mobilised without going to war.

Now the Germans could put their great plan into operation. They would attack the French and defeat them before the Russians were ready to fight. Then with France defeated, the Germans could deal with Russia. So Germany declared war on Russia and France. The French had built a defensive fortification along their border with Germany, although not along their border with Belgium – Belgium was no threat. Adopting a long-planned strategy, the Germans marched into Belgium so that they could go around the French defences and into France. Britain was bound by treaty to preserve Belgium’s independence, and, unwilling to see Germany control the entire continent, gave Germany an ultimatum to withdraw. When the ultimatum was ignored, Britain declared war on Germany. The Germans could not believe that Britain would go to war over ‘a scrap of paper’. Over the following days, Montenegro declared war on Austria-Hungary, Serbia declared war on Germany, Austria-Hungary declared war on Russia, Montenegro declared war on Germany, France declared war on Austria-Hungary, Japan declared war on Germany and then Britain declared war on Austria-Hungary. Others soon joined, and two groups formed: the Allies against the Central Powers.

Nothing went as planned. Austria-Hungary attacked Serbia, but they were repelled by the Serbs. Russia could have left the Serbs to look after themselves, and the whole chain reaction might not have happened. But it was all long beyond stopping now; everyone had a new reason for war.

The French took the opportunity to attack the Germans in Alsace-Lorraine, hoping to recover their lost territory. They were thrown back at a cost of 250,000 dead. The Germans were less successful in the north; they had not counted on Belgian resistance. Germany’s policy of terrorising people into submission was bravely resisted. In their anger, the Germans authorised their soldiers to execute civilians and to slaughter women and children. Cities were completely destroyed, notably Louvain with five days of mass shootings and destruction including the famous university library and many churches.

In the end, the Germans did manage to move through Belgium and deep into France. However, they decided not to enter Paris until they had defeated the British and French armies. The relieved French counter-attacked, and together with the British they pushed the Germans back. Then both sides dug in, with trenches running from Switzerland to the Channel. It meant that the Germans could not dispose of France and then deal with Russia.

Certain of a German victory, Turkey joined the Central Powers, hoping to recover lands previously lost to Russia. This was later balanced when Italy (desperate to show itself as a major power on one side or the other) joined the Allies, having been promised territory and money after the Central Powers were defeated.

Seeing the Germans tied down in the west, the Russians attacked Germany. However, the Germans were wrong; they could indeed deal with France and Russia at the same time. The Russians were heavily defeated and forced to retreat.

In England, the mood changed; it would not ‘be all over by Christmas’. First Sea Lord, Prince Louis of Battenberg (grandfather of Prince Philip), was removed from office. His father was Prince of Hesse, but as Louis’ parents’ marriage was morganatic, he had the minor title of Battenberg. He had joined the Royal Navy at the age of fourteen and later took British citizenship and married a granddaughter of Queen Victoria, but his name was German. In the East End of London, mobs ran riot, looting and destroying shops and homes of people with foreign names.

The turmoil spread to Parliament. Having put Irish home rule aside, Asquith could no longer rely on the Irish Nationalists for support. So he formed a coalition with the Conservatives.

Attention moved from the north of the continent to the Dardanelles as Britain and France (aided by Australian, New Zealand and Indian troops) attacked Turkey, hoping to secure a sea route to Russia and force the Germans to come to Turkey’s aid by transferring troops from the western front. It was a disaster; the Gallipoli Peninsula campaign cost tens of thousands of lives before it ground to a halt and then continued for no purpose until it was abandoned. First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill was demoted, and later resigned, joining the Royal Scots Fusiliers and serving on the western front. Elsewhere the trench warfare was getting nowhere.

Although the Government had suspended dealing with Irish home rule until the war was over, for the Irish it was a time of opportunity. During Easter 1916 (expecting assistance from Germany – which never arrived) there was a violent uprising as nationalists seized the Dublin central post office and proclaimed the Irish Republic. After five days of fighting and several hundred deaths, the uprising was put down.