The Black Hand and World War I: A Detailed Summary

The Black Hand (which was also known as ‘Unification or Death’) was a Serbian nationalistSomeone who strongly supports the independence and unity of their own nation or ethnic group. organization that existed in the early part of the 20th century.  In fact, the Black Hand is most associated with the outbreak of World War I in 1914.  This is due to the assassination of Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand on June 28th, 1914 by Gavrilo Princip.  Princip belonged to Young Bosnia, a group of young nationalists armed and trained by the Black Hand, and carried out the assassination as part of a plot the organization helped plan to fight for Serbian nationalism.  The assassination of Ferdinand was the event that sparked the events of World War I and is a main cause of the war.​

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I swear by the Sun which shineth upon me, by the Earth which feedeth me, by God, by the blood of my forefathers, by my honor and by my life, that from this moment onward and until my death, I shall faithfully serve the task of this organization and that I shall at all times be prepared to bear for it any sacrifice.

Black Hand initiation oath

From the Constitution of Unification or Death, Serbia, 1911

Every new member of the secret Serbian society Unification or Death, known as the Black Hand, had to swear this oath and keep the group's plans hidden. The society armed and trained the men who assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo on June 28th, 1914, the act that triggered World War I.

Source: Imperial War Museums© factsthatcrunch.com

What Was the Black Hand?

The Black Hand was founded in May of 1911 by officers of the Royal Serbian Army, and was also known as Unification or Death.  It was a secret societyA closed group whose members, goals, and activities are hidden from the general public. that worked to promote Serbian nationalism.  Several of its founders had taken part in an earlier plot in 1903, when a group of army officers assassinated King Alexander I and Queen Draga, whose marriage they had opposed.​

Serbian nationalism grew stronger in the years leading up to 1914 and the outbreak of World War I.  For instance, the Bosnian Crisis of 1908 was an important event in the Balkans that increased tensions.  In general, the Bosnian Crisis involved the annexationWhen one country takes control of another territory and makes it part of its own land. of Bosnia and Herzegovina by Austria-Hungary.  This means that Austria took control over the two territories.  Previously they had belonged to the Ottoman Empire, although Austria-Hungary had occupied and run them since 1878, and by this time the Ottoman Empire was in decline and losing its authority in the region. 

Austria’s annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina created a crisis not only with the leadership of the Ottoman Empire, but also with other surrounding European nations including Italy, Russia, and Serbia.  In fact, Serbian nationalists (like those in the Black Hand) resented the Austro-Hungarian takeover of Bosnia and Herzegovina.  This created lingering anger among the members of the Black Hand, who wanted to unify and liberate Slavic people in the Balkans.​

World War IMyth vs Fact

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The Myth

Serbian nationalists welcomed the Austro-Hungarian annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1908, believing it would eventually unite South Slavic peoples under one government.

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The Fact

Serbian nationalists strongly opposed the annexation and saw it as a direct threat to Serbia's goal of uniting South Slavic peoples under Serbian leadership. Austria-Hungary's move blocked Serbia's ambition to absorb Bosnia, which had a large South Slav population including many ethnic Serbs. The annexation deepened hostility between Serbia and Austria-Hungary and became a major source of tension that fed into the conditions leading to World War I.

Source: Imperial War Museums© factsthatcrunch.comMore World War I Facts →

Black Hand and World War I

The next major incident involving the Black Hand was the assassination of Franz Ferdinand.  Ferdinand was the Archduke of Austria-Hungary and next in line to rule over the empire. Ferdinand and his wife Sophie were assassinated on June 28th, 1914 in Sarajevo, the capital of the Austro-Hungarian province of Bosnia and Herzegovina while there on a visit to inspect the military forces.  The assassin was a Bosnian Serb nationalist named Gavrilo Princip.  Just nineteen years old at the time, Princip belonged to Young Bosnia, a group of young nationalists armed and trained by the Black Hand.​

Upon first arriving in Sarajevo Franz and Sophie made their way through the city in a motorcadeA procession of cars carrying an important person through a public area..  Members of the Black Hand had pre-planned their assassination of the archduke in anticipation of his visit to Sarajevo.  As the archduke’s motorcade made its trip one of the conspirators attempted to assassinate the couple with a bomb that was thrown at the couple’s car.  The bomb missed Franz and Sophie and injured members of the car behind them when it exploded.  After a short rest at the Governor’s house in Sarajevo, Franz decided to visit the people injured by the earlier bombing by going to the hospital.  The drivers of the motorcade were not made aware of the change in plans and as a result the drivers took the wrong route.  By the time the error had been discovered the drivers had to turn around and began to slowly back up down a street in the center of Sarajevo.  By coincidence, Gavrilo Princip was on the street at that time and noticing his opportunity he approached the cars and fatally shot both Franz and Sophie with his pistol.  Franz and Sophie were dead and the conspirators who carried out the attack were rounded up and arrested.​

The assassination of Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie caused the nationalistic tensions of the Balkans to spill over and the event is considered to have directly led to the outbreak of World War I.  Europe divided along the two major series of alliances (Triple Entente and Triple Alliance) and within a month of the assassination, World War I had begun.

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What happened next?

On June 28th, 1914, Gavrilo Princip stood at a deli on Franz Josef Street in Sarajevo, having given up on the assassination attempt after a bomb thrown by a fellow conspirator had failed to kill Archduke Franz Ferdinand earlier that morning. The Archduke's car then took an unplanned turn and stalled almost directly in front of Princip, leaving the two men only a few feet apart with no guards blocking the way.

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Princip hesitated too long and was seized by bystanders before he could raise his pistol.Princip drew his pistol and shot Franz Ferdinand and Sophie, killing them both.Princip fired but missed, and the Archduke's driver sped away before a second shot could be taken.

What actually happenedPrincip fired twice at close range. The shots struck Franz Ferdinand in the jugular vein and Sophie in the abdomen, and both died within the hour. Austria-Hungary blamed Serbia for the attack, triggering a chain of declarations that pulled the major European powers into World War I within six weeks.

Source: Imperial War Museums© factsthatcrunch.comMore World War I Facts →

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To cite this article as a source, use one of the formats below.

MLA: Beck, Elias. “The Black Hand and World War I: A Detailed Summary.” HistoryCrunch, 29 September 2026, https://historycrunch.com/black-hand-and-world-war-i/.

APA: Beck, E. (2026). The Black Hand and World War I: A Detailed Summary. HistoryCrunch. https://historycrunch.com/black-hand-and-world-war-i/

Chicago: Beck, Elias. “The Black Hand and World War I: A Detailed Summary.” HistoryCrunch. September 29, 2026. https://historycrunch.com/black-hand-and-world-war-i/

Sources

• Imperial War Museum
• John Keegan, The First World War.