Compare and Contrast: Sources on an Assassination
Austrian Source: newspaper editorial from an Austrian
newspaper the day after the assassination.
Serbian source: eyewitness account of Borijove Jevtic, a
partner of Princip who helped carry out the attack.
“For many years hatred against the Austrian throne has
been sown in Serbia. There has been a movement there
whose goal is to break way a territory that rightfully
belongs to the Austrian empire. In the press and in the
streets, criminals and terrorists have been inciting the
hatred of the Serbian population against the Austrian king.
“We read a newspaper article that Archduke Ferdinand would
visit our capital on June 28 to direct army maneuvers in the
nearby mountains… That was no day for Franz Ferdinand to
venture to the very doors of Serbia for a display of arms
which kept up beneath his heel.
Everywhere they plant seeds of falsehood. Now the crop
has sprung up and the harvest is murder.
Among all Serbians, a vile criminal is now regarded as a
national hero. Even worse, the Serbian government has
done nothing to stop these criminals and terrorists from
inciting hatred of the Serbian population against the
Austrian king. The Serbian government has tolerated
unrestrained language on the part of the press and has
glorified the assassins who perpetrated this outrage.
The accounts of eye-witnesses say that upon hearing of
this murder that people fell into one another’s arms in
delight, and remarks were heard, such as: “It serves them
right, we have been expecting this for a long time.” Such a
response is inhuman, for they also shot down an innocent
woman.
Our decision was taken almost immediately. Death to the
tyrant! Then came the matter of arranging it… because of his
role, Princip is destined to go down in Serbian history as one
of her greatest heroes…
The fateful morning dawned... As the car came abreast he
stepped forward from the curb, drew his automatic pistol
from his coat and fired two shots. The second bullet struck
the archduke close to the heart… he died almost instantly.
The officers seized Princip. They beat him over the head with
their swords. They knocked him down, they kicked him,
tortured him, all but killed him… I was placed in the cell next
to Princip's, and when Princip was taken out to walk in the
prison yard I was taken along as his companion...
Awakened in the middle of the night and told that he was to
be carried off to another prison, Princip bravely made this
In view of this attitude of the Serbian population, Austria
statement to the prison governor:
needs to hold all of Serbia responsible, not just the
‘There is no need to carry me to another prison. My life is
criminals who perpetrated this outrage.”
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.’”
1. What was the goal of the movement in Serbia mentioned in the Austrian source?
2. How does the Austrian source describe the Serbian government's response to the assassination?
3. According to the Serbian source, why did they target Archduke Ferdinand?
4. How does the Serbian source describe the treatment of Gavrilo Princip after the assassination?
5. How does Gavrilo Princip respond to the prison governor's announcement in the Serbian
source?
6. How does the Austrian source characterize the Serbian population's reaction to the
assassination, and how does the Serbian source describe it?
7. What is the Austrian source's proposed solution to the problem, and how does it differ from the
Serbian source's perspective on the situation?