Dragutin Dimitrijevic
Encyclopedia
Dragutin Dimitrijević was a Serbia
n soldier and leader of the Black Hand
group implicated with assassination of Franz Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria in 1914. The latter triggered the July Crisis which led to the outbreak of World War I
.
in 1876. At sixteen Dimitrijević went to the Belgrade Military Academy
. A brilliant student, Dimitrijević was recruited into the General Staff of the Serbian Army
immediately after his graduation.
Captain Dimitrijević and a group of junior officers planned the assassination
of the autocratic and unpopular king of Serbia. On 11 June 1903, the group stormed the royal palace and killed both King Alexander
and his wife Queen Draga
. During the attack Dimitrijević was badly wounded, and, although he eventually recovered, the three bullets from the encounter were never removed from his body.
The Serbian parliament described Dimitrijević as "the saviour of the fatherland" and he was appointed Professor of Tactics at the Military Academy. He visited Germany
and Russia
where he studied the latest military ideas. During the Balkan Wars
(1912–13), Dimitrijević's military planning helped the Serbian Army achieve several important victories.
Dimitrijević's main concern was the liberation of all "South Slavs," especially Serbs, from Austria-Hungary
. Although Serbia was already an independent country, many Serbs in Bosnia and Croatia were still under Austro-Hungarian rule. Dimitrijević, who used the codename Apis, became leader of the secret Black Hand
group. In 1911 Dimitrijević organised an attempt to assassinate Emperor Franz Josef
. When this failed, Dimitrijević turned his attention to the heir to the throne, Archduke Franz Ferdinand. Dimitrijević was concerned about Ferdinand's plans to grant concessions to the South Slavs, fearing that, if this happened, a unified Serbian state would be more difficult to achieve.
When Dimitrijević heard that Archduke Franz Ferdinand was planning to visit Sarajevo
in June 1914, he sent three members of the Young Bosnia
group, Gavrilo Princip
, Nedeljko Čabrinović
, Trifko Grabež
and four others from Serbia to assassinate him.
Unknown to Dimitrijević, Major Vojislav Tankosić was informing Nikola Pašić
, the prime minister of Serbia about the plot. Although Pašić supported the main objectives of the Black Hand group, he did not want the assassination to take place, as he feared it would lead to a war with Austria-Hungary. He therefore gave instructions for Gavrilo Princip, Nedeljko Čabrinović and Trifko Grabež to be arrested when they attempted to leave the country. However, his orders were not implemented, and the three men arrived in Bosnia-Herzegovina, where they joined forces with fellow conspirators, Muhamed Mehmedbašić
, Danilo Ilić
, Vaso Čubrilović
, Cvjetko Popović
, Miško Jovanović and Veljko Čubrilović
.
After the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand on June 28, 1914, several members of the Black Hand group, under interrogation by the Austrian authorities, claimed that three men from Serbia (Dimitrijević, Milan Ciganović, and Major Voja Tankosić) had organised the plot.
On July 23, 1914, the Austro-Hungarian government sent its July Ultimatum
to the Serbian government with a lengthy list of ten different demands. In his response on July 25, 1914, Nikola Pašić
, the Serbian prime minister, accepted all the points of the ultimatum except point #6, demanding Serbia to allow an Austrian delegation to participate in a criminal investigation against those participants in the conspiracy that were present in Serbia. Three days later the Austro-Hungarian Empire declared war on Serbia.
Nikola Pašić decided to get rid of the most prominent members of the Black Hand movement, by then officially disbanded. Dimitrijević and several of his military colleagues were arrested and tried on false charges blaming them with attempted assassination of regent Aleksandar I Karadjordjevic. On May 23, 1917, following the so-called Salonika
Trial, Dimitrijević was found guilty of treason and sentenced to death. A month later, on June 11, 24 or 27, he was executed by firing squad.
In 1953, Dimitrijević and his co-defendants were all retried by the Supreme Court of Serbia
and found not guilty, because there was no proof for their alleged participation in the assassination plot.
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
n soldier and leader of the Black Hand
Black Hand
Unification or Death , unofficially known as the Black Hand , was a secret military society formed by members of the Serbian army in the Kingdom of Serbia, which was founded on September 6, 1901. It was intent on uniting all of the territories containing significant Serb populations annexed by...
group implicated with assassination of Franz Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria in 1914. The latter triggered the July Crisis which led to the outbreak of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
.
Life
Dragutin Dimitrijević was born in BelgradeBelgrade
Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. According to official results of Census 2011, the city has a population of 1,639,121. It is one of the 15 largest cities in Europe...
in 1876. At sixteen Dimitrijević went to the Belgrade Military Academy
Military Academy Belgrade
The Military Academy Belgrade is a training college devoted to military education and career development in Belgrade, Serbia. The academy forms part of the Serbian higher education system, offering accredited graduate and postgraduate curriculum. It contains a military high school, offering...
. A brilliant student, Dimitrijević was recruited into the General Staff of the Serbian Army
Serbian General Staff
The Serbian General Staff, also known as the General Staff of the Military of Serbia , is Serbia's highest unit of military organization and authority of the military...
immediately after his graduation.
Captain Dimitrijević and a group of junior officers planned the assassination
May Overthrow
The May Overthrow was a 1903 coup d'état in which the Serbian King Alexander Obrenović and his wife, Queen Draga, were assassinated inside the Royal Palace in Belgrade on the night between 28 and 29 May 1903 by the Julian calendar...
of the autocratic and unpopular king of Serbia. On 11 June 1903, the group stormed the royal palace and killed both King Alexander
Aleksandar Obrenovic
Not to be confused with Alexander I of Yugoslavia.Alexander I or Aleksandar Obrenović was king of Serbia from 1889 to 1903 when he and his wife, Queen Draga, were assassinated by a group of Army officers, led by Colonel Dragutin Dimitrijević-Accession:In 1889 Alexander's father, King Milan,...
and his wife Queen Draga
Queen Draga
Draga Obrenović , also known as Queen Draga, was the queen and wife of King Aleksandar Obrenović of the Kingdom of Serbia...
. During the attack Dimitrijević was badly wounded, and, although he eventually recovered, the three bullets from the encounter were never removed from his body.
The Serbian parliament described Dimitrijević as "the saviour of the fatherland" and he was appointed Professor of Tactics at the Military Academy. He visited Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
and Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
where he studied the latest military ideas. During the Balkan Wars
Balkan Wars
The Balkan Wars were two conflicts that took place in the Balkans in south-eastern Europe in 1912 and 1913.By the early 20th century, Montenegro, Bulgaria, Greece and Serbia, the countries of the Balkan League, had achieved their independence from the Ottoman Empire, but large parts of their ethnic...
(1912–13), Dimitrijević's military planning helped the Serbian Army achieve several important victories.
Dimitrijević's main concern was the liberation of all "South Slavs," especially Serbs, from Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...
. Although Serbia was already an independent country, many Serbs in Bosnia and Croatia were still under Austro-Hungarian rule. Dimitrijević, who used the codename Apis, became leader of the secret Black Hand
Black Hand
Unification or Death , unofficially known as the Black Hand , was a secret military society formed by members of the Serbian army in the Kingdom of Serbia, which was founded on September 6, 1901. It was intent on uniting all of the territories containing significant Serb populations annexed by...
group. In 1911 Dimitrijević organised an attempt to assassinate Emperor Franz Josef
Franz Joseph I of Austria
Franz Joseph I or Francis Joseph I was Emperor of Austria, King of Bohemia, King of Croatia, Apostolic King of Hungary, King of Galicia and Lodomeria and Grand Duke of Cracow from 1848 until his death in 1916.In the December of 1848, Emperor Ferdinand I of Austria abdicated the throne as part of...
. When this failed, Dimitrijević turned his attention to the heir to the throne, Archduke Franz Ferdinand. Dimitrijević was concerned about Ferdinand's plans to grant concessions to the South Slavs, fearing that, if this happened, a unified Serbian state would be more difficult to achieve.
When Dimitrijević heard that Archduke Franz Ferdinand was planning to visit Sarajevo
Sarajevo
Sarajevo |Bosnia]], surrounded by the Dinaric Alps and situated along the Miljacka River in the heart of Southeastern Europe and the Balkans....
in June 1914, he sent three members of the Young Bosnia
Young Bosnia
Young Bosnia was a revolutionary movement active before World War I, the members were predominantly school students who were ethnic Serbs, but included Bosniaks...
group, Gavrilo Princip
Gavrilo Princip
Gavrilo Princip was the Bosnian Serb who assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife, Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg, in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914...
, Nedeljko Čabrinović
Nedeljko Cabrinovic
Nedeljko Čabrinović was a member of the nationalist Young Bosnia movement, and one of a group of seven who intended to assassinate Franz Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria during his announced visit to Sarajevo.Born in Sarajevo, Čabrinović spent many of his post-school years as a handyman, before...
, Trifko Grabež
Trifko Grabež
Trifun "Trifko" Grabež was a Bosnian Serb member of the organization the Black Hand involved in the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria....
and four others from Serbia to assassinate him.
Unknown to Dimitrijević, Major Vojislav Tankosić was informing Nikola Pašić
Nikola Pašic
Nikola P. Pašić was a Serbian and Yugoslav politician and diplomat, the most important Serbian political figure for almost 40 years, leader of the People's Radical Party who, among other posts, was twice a mayor of Belgrade...
, the prime minister of Serbia about the plot. Although Pašić supported the main objectives of the Black Hand group, he did not want the assassination to take place, as he feared it would lead to a war with Austria-Hungary. He therefore gave instructions for Gavrilo Princip, Nedeljko Čabrinović and Trifko Grabež to be arrested when they attempted to leave the country. However, his orders were not implemented, and the three men arrived in Bosnia-Herzegovina, where they joined forces with fellow conspirators, Muhamed Mehmedbašić
Muhamed Mehmedbašic
Muhamed Mehmedbašić was a Bosniak/Muslim revolutionary and participant in the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria.-Background:...
, Danilo Ilić
Danilo Ilic
Danilo Ilić was born in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1891 and died in 1915. He attended the State Teachers' College in Sarajevo and for a while taught at a school in Bosnia. In 1913 Ilic moved to Belgrade where he became a journalist and a member of the Black Hand secret society.Ilic returned to...
, Vaso Čubrilović
Vaso Cubrilovic
Vaso Čubrilović was a student in Sarajevo, when Danilo Ilić recruited him and his friend, Cvjetko Popović, to help assassinate Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria...
, Cvjetko Popović
Cvjetko Popovic
Cvjetko Popović was a Serb born in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1896. He was a student in Sarajevo when Danilo Ilić recruited him and his friend, Vaso Čubrilović to help assassinate Archduke Franz Ferdinand....
, Miško Jovanović and Veljko Čubrilović
Veljko Cubrilovic
Veljko Čubrilović was involved in the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria.He was born in Bosnia and Herzegovina. He became a schoolteacher in Priboj Majevicki, but in 1914, as a member of the Black Hand secret society, agreed to help Gavrilo Princip, Nedjelko Cabrinovic, and...
.
After the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand on June 28, 1914, several members of the Black Hand group, under interrogation by the Austrian authorities, claimed that three men from Serbia (Dimitrijević, Milan Ciganović, and Major Voja Tankosić) had organised the plot.
On July 23, 1914, the Austro-Hungarian government sent its July Ultimatum
July Ultimatum
The July Crisis was a diplomatic crisis among the major powers of Europe in the summer of 1914 that led to the First World War...
to the Serbian government with a lengthy list of ten different demands. In his response on July 25, 1914, Nikola Pašić
Nikola Pašic
Nikola P. Pašić was a Serbian and Yugoslav politician and diplomat, the most important Serbian political figure for almost 40 years, leader of the People's Radical Party who, among other posts, was twice a mayor of Belgrade...
, the Serbian prime minister, accepted all the points of the ultimatum except point #6, demanding Serbia to allow an Austrian delegation to participate in a criminal investigation against those participants in the conspiracy that were present in Serbia. Three days later the Austro-Hungarian Empire declared war on Serbia.
Nikola Pašić decided to get rid of the most prominent members of the Black Hand movement, by then officially disbanded. Dimitrijević and several of his military colleagues were arrested and tried on false charges blaming them with attempted assassination of regent Aleksandar I Karadjordjevic. On May 23, 1917, following the so-called Salonika
Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki , historically also known as Thessalonica, Salonika or Salonica, is the second-largest city in Greece and the capital of the region of Central Macedonia as well as the capital of the Decentralized Administration of Macedonia and Thrace...
Trial, Dimitrijević was found guilty of treason and sentenced to death. A month later, on June 11, 24 or 27, he was executed by firing squad.
In 1953, Dimitrijević and his co-defendants were all retried by the Supreme Court of Serbia
Supreme Court of Serbia
The Supreme Court of Cassation is the court of last resort in the Republic of Serbia. Formerly called the Supreme Court of Serbia, it is the Court of cassation which reviews and possibly overturns previous rulings made by lower courts. It was established in 1846 by a decree of Prince Aleksandar...
and found not guilty, because there was no proof for their alleged participation in the assassination plot.