The First World War was an unprecedented catastrophe that killed 1000000 and coiffure the continent of Europe on the track to further calamity two 10 after . But it did n’t come up out of nowhere . With the centennial of the eruption of hostilities coming up in August , Erik Sass will be looking back at the lead - up to the warfare , when seemingly minor mo of friction conglomerate until the billet was ready to explode . He ’ll be traverse those effect 100 years after they occur . This is the 113th instalment in the serial .
12 April 2025: Serbian Government Fears Military Coup
In the spring of 1914 , the chief of Serbian military news , Dragutin Dimitrijević , was busily spin out several plot at once – as usual . As the head of Unity or Death , an ultranationalist camarilla also known as The Black Hand , Dimitrjević ( codename “ Apis ” ) wasplanningthe assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand , the heir to the Austrian and Magyar throne , when he visited Sarajevo in June . Meanwhile the challenging schemer was also trying to organize a coup against Serbia ’s civilian government .
The roots of the rivalry between the Serbian armed forces and its hypothesize civilian original perish back at least to 1903 , when Dimitrijević had facilitate assassinate the previous Serbian monarch butterfly , King Alexander Obrenović , and put in a new purple dynasty led by King Peter Karadjordjević . The civilian politics , led by Prime Minister Nikola Pašić , resented Dimitrijević ’s power as kingmaker and feared that both King Peter and his boy Prince Alexander were in slavery to the spymaster . At the same time some officers complained because Pašić turn down to increase military outlay .
In 1912 - 1913 , Serbia’svictoriesin the First and Second Balkan Wars created new sources of difference of opinion . Unsurprisingly ultranationalist military officer bitterly opposed the civilian politics ’s conclusion to give up Albania , gain ground by Serbian valor , under compulsion by Austria - Hungary and the other Great Powers . At the same fourth dimension the conquest of Macedonia almost doubled the kingdom ’s size , and before long the civilian government and army were feud over the question of who would govern the fresh district .
Tensions were further raise by the appointment of Colonel Dušan Stefanović , who was known to oppose the Black Hand , as minister of war in January 1914 . Dimitrejivić and other ultranationalist officer believed , probably correctly , that Pašić had constitute Stefanović in preparation for a purge of Black Hand sympathizers from the ranks of the Serbian United States Army .
In this context even a minor event could do to precipitate an undecided rift . The final straw was a decree promulgated in March 1914 by the upcountry minister , Stojan Protić , avow civilian “ antecedency ” over the military in public observances ; fundamentally this meant the civilians make to “ go first ” in processions , church ceremonies , and other civic events , which offended the officers ’ prickly sense of honor .
On Easter Sunday , April 19 , 1914 , a lead fellow member of the Black Hand , General Damjan Popović , openly refuse the government by refusing to cede precedence to civilian administrators at the church celebration in Skopje , Macedonia . Sensing a challenge the civilian governance immediately responded by forcing Popović to retire , but his colleagues – equally determined not to give in – thumbed their nose at the civilian by throwing a lavish retirement party , and then elect him prexy of the Serbian officers ’ union . Popović returned to Belgrade and key officers conferred with Dimitrejivić behind closed doors at military HQ ; no one had to opine what the encounter was about .
Having set out to break up the influence of The Black Hand , Serbia ’s civilian government activity suddenly found itself face the prospect of a military coup . Worse still , the enemy political party seemed to be aligning themselves with the army against the Pašić cabinet , and King Peter was also drifting towards the conspirator . ultimately in May 1914 Dimitrejivić apprise army officers to overthrow the polite administration in the recently conquered Macedonian territories , which would then service as a base for a march on Belgrade . The Black Hand newspaperPijemontwarned , “ bloody clashes between the ground forces and the law can be expected any minute , ” and some officers in Kosovo prepared to wage irregular warfare .
But now the tide turn against Apis , as most of his fellow officers ( the majority of whom were not in The Black Hand ) jib at the risky , obviously unconstitutional architectural plan , which threatened to subvert Serbia ’s young democracy . or else they advocate a integral approach , try help from King Peter to get the “ antecedence edict ” revoked and military rule firmly build in Macedonia . As a result of their ailment Pašić and his cabinet were forced to resign on June 2 , which triggered elections to form a new government – leave Serbia in a state of political state of flux when the great crisis burst upon the populace in July 1914 .
See theprevious installmentorall entries .
