Gavrilo Princip

born: 1899 died: 1918 Allies

Involvement in the War: Gavrilo Princip was a 19 year old tubercular Bosnian Serb student, and a member of Mlada Bosna ("Young Bosnia"), which was a splinter group of the "Narodna Odbrana", a Serbian secret patriotic society. He was associated with six other assassins in a plot to kill Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary in Sarajevo, for which purpose they were supplied with weapons by a Serbian terrorist organization known as the Black Hand. All assassins failed except Princip, who on June 28, 1914, shot the Archduke and his wife, Countess Sophia in Sarajevo. The royal couple was publicly touring the streets when Princip jumped on the running board and fired the gun that started World War I. He attempted suicide at the scene, but an onlooker knocked the gun from his hand; he tried again with cyanide, but he vomited up the poison. Gavrilo Princip stood trial and was found guilty, but he was spared the death penalty on account of his age. Ironically, Princip died in prison of tuberculosis in 1918, having been treated fairly by the government he considered so tyrannical.

Quotes:

"The Narodna Odbrana does not doubt that in the fight against the enemies with whom we stand face to face, our people will provide a succession of heroes."

-Excerpt from "Narodna Odbrana" pamphlet

"There is no need to carry me to another prison. My life is already ebbing away. I suggest that you nail me to a cross and burn me alive. My flaming body will be a torch to light my people on their path to freedom."

-Princip to the prison govenor on being moved to another prison