File:Black_Hand,_logo.png · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons
Key facts
- Also known as
- Black Hand
- Leader
- Dragutin Dimitrijević
- Foundation
- May 1911 ; 115 years ago ( May 1911 ) , (as Unification or Death )
- Motives
- Unification of all Serbs
- Active regions
- Balkan Peninsula
- Ideology
- Greater Serbia , Serbian nationalism
- Notable attacks
- Killing of Alexander I , Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Image
- Black Hand Members2.jpg
Show 3 more facts
- inception
- 1911-00-00
- Commons category
- Black Hand
- native label
- Црна рука
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~10 min read
Article
Unification or Death (Serbian: Уједињење или смрт, romanized: Ujedinjenje ili smrt), popularly known as the Black Hand (Црна рука, Crna ruka), was a secret military society formed in May 1911 by officers in the Army of the Kingdom of Serbia. It was famous for its alleged involvement in the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo in 1914, triggering World War I, and for the earlier assassination of the Serbian royal couple in 1903, under the aegis of Captain Dragutin Dimitrijević (a.k.a. "Apis").
The society formed to unite all of the territories with a South Slavic majority that were not then ruled by either Serbia or Montenegro. It took inspiration primarily from the unification of Italy in 1859–1870, but also from the unification of Germany in 1871. Through its connections to the June 1914 assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo, carried out by the members of the youth movement Young Bosnia, the Black Hand was instrumental in starting World War I (1914–1918) by precipitating the July Crisis of 1914, which eventually led to Austria-Hungary's invasion of the Kingdom of Serbia in August 1914.