Black Hand-Secret Society
26 01 2008
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A secret society organized for acts of terrorism and blackmail that was active in the United States in the early 20th century.
For more information on Black Hand, visit Britannica.com.
Members of the Black Hand
Black Hand (Serbian: Црна рука / Crna Ruka), officially Unification or Death (Serbian: Уједињење или смрт / Ujedinjenje ili smrt), was a secret society founded in Serbia in May 1911[1][2], as part of the Pan-Slavism nationalist movement, with the intention of uniting all of the territories containing South Slav populations (Serbs, Croats, Slovenes, etc) annexed by Austria-Hungary[3]. The society’s implication in the June 28, 1914 assassination in Sarajevo of Franz Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria is considered to have been the main catalyst to the start of World War I.
Origin
The Black Hand seal
The Black Hand was founded by former members of a semi-secret society named Narodna Odbrana (Defence of the People) dedicated to achieving Pan-Slavism and nationalism by means of assassination. The purpose of the group was to recruit and train partisans for a possible war between Serbia and Austria and eventually free Serbia from Austria. Under their anti-Austrian propaganda, they organized spies and saboteurs to operate within the empire’s provinces. Satellite groups were formed in Slovenia, Bosnia, Herzegovina and Austria. In 1909, after the Bosnian Annexation Crisis, Austria pressured the Serbian government to put a stop to their anti-Austrian insurrection. At that time Russia lacked military strength to fully support Serbia in case of a war, so the organization was forced to stop. From then on, Narodna Odbrana attempted to disguise itself as a cultural organization by shifting its concentration to education and propaganda within Serbia.
In 1911, differences between the two main groups of the Narodna Odbrana—political leaders of the Radical Party and military officers—arose. The political leaders preferred a more passive approach for the time being, including more peaceful relations with Austria and concentrating on strengthening Serbia for future struggle, but some of the military officers grew impatient with the more moderate radical policies. Consequently, the more zealous members of the Narodna Odbrana started a new secret society, and the Black Hand was founded.
Ideology
The group encompassed a range of ideological outlooks, from conspiratorially-minded army officers to idealistic youths, sometimes tending towards republicanism, despite the acquisition of nationalistic royal circles in its activities (the movement’s leader, Col. Dragutin Dimitrijević or “Apis”, had been instrumental in the June 1903 coup which had brought King Petar Karađorđević to the Serbian throne following 45 years of rule by the rival Obrenović dynasty). The group was denounced as nihilist by the Austro-Hungarian press and compared to the Russian People’s Will and the Chinese Assassination Corps which, like the Black Hand, used assassination to achieve anti-imperialist political goals.
Impact
Just prior to World War I, under the orders of the Chief of Serbian Military Intelligence, Serbian Military Officers and remnants of the by then moribund Black Hand organized and facilitated the assassination of Franz Ferdinand on occasion of his visit to Sarajevo. The Austro-Hungarian investigation of the assassination rounded up all but one of the assassins and also much of the underground railroad that had been used to transport the assassins and their weapons from Serbia to Sarajevo. Under interrogation, the assassins fingered members of the Serbian Military. Within two days following the assassination, Austria-Hungary and Germany advised Serbia that she should open an investigation, but Gruic, speaking for Serbia replied, “Nothing had been done so far, and the matter did not concern the Serbian Government,” after which “high words” were spoken on both sides. Entreaties by Germany asking Russia to intercede with Serbia were ignored. On July 23rd, Austria-Hungary delivered a toughly worded letter to Serbia with ten enumerated demands and additional demands in the preamble aimed at the destruction of the anti-Austrian terrorist and propaganda network in Serbia. Austria called attention to Serbia’s March 1909 declaration committing to the Great Powers to respect Austria-Hungary’s sovereignty over Bosnia-Herzegovina and committing Serbia to maintain good neighborly relations with Austria-Hungary. If the ten enumerated demands and demands in the preamble were not agreed to within 48 hours, Austria-Hungary would recall its ambassador from Serbia. The letter became known as the July ultimatum. Serbia accepted all but one of the demands, which would have compromised its sovereignty. In response, Austria-Hungary recalled its ambassador.
Austria-Hungary authorized the mobilization and the declaration of war against Serbia on July 28, 1914. The Secret Treaty of 1892 required both Russia and France to mobilize immediately followed by a commencement of action against the Triplice if any member of the Triplice mobilized, and so soon all the Great Powers of Europe were at war except Italy. Italy cited a clause in the Triple Alliance treaty which only bound it to enter in case of aggression against one of the treaty members, and so remained neutral - for the time being.
The six assassins caught by Austria-Hungary were tried and convicted of treason. The leader, Danilo Ilic, was hanged. The remaining assassins in custody were not yet twenty years old at the time of the assassination and so were given prison terms. Most of the underground railroad that transported them were also arrested, tried, and convicted. Two of these were executed. A few peripheral conspirators were acquitted. A wide ranging investigation rolled up many additional irredentist youths, and the fifth column that the Black Hand and Serbian Military Intelligence had tried to organize was eliminated. After receiving the Austrian letter, Serbia arrested Major Tankosic (a member of the Black Hand committee who had been fingered by the assassins) but then promptly released him and returned him to his unit. The seventh assassin escaped to Montenegro where he was arrested. Austria-Hungary asserted its right to extradite him, but Montenegrin authorities instead allowed the assassin to “escape” to Serbia where he joined Major Tankosic’s unit; Major Tankosic died in November 1915 covering the Serbian retreat, but not before confessing his role in the assassination to historians at Azania. Masterspy Rade Malobabic, Serbian Military Intelligence’s top agent against Austria-Hungary, was arrested on his return from Austria-Hungary after the assassination, but was also later released and given a commission running an army supply store. In 1916 Serbia’s government in exile arrested the leadership of the Black Hand partly to satisfy an Austrian demand for a separate peace. The leadership was tried before a kangaroo court and convicted on false charges unrelated to Sarajevo; many were given death sentences. Three of the accused were ultimately shot by firing squad. Before being shot, Dragutin Dimitrievic made a written confession to the court that he had ordered Rade Malobabic to organize the assassination of Franz Ferdinand. Malobabic made an implied confession to a priest before he was executed. Vulovovic’s confession came at trial were he said he received orders signed by Serbia’s top military officer to send Malobabic into Austria-Hungary just before the assassination. Much later, a new trial was ordered by Yugoslavia and the convictions were overturned.
Popular Culture
In White Wolf, Inc.’s World of Darkness line of occult-themed role-playing games, The Black Hand is an ancient secret society that transcends factional differences, bringing together various forms of normally-hostile supernatural beings which seek to guide and shape the world, echoing the unification of the historical Serbian Black Hand.
Video game The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion includes a group of assassins called the Dark Brotherhood, whose leaders are called The Black Hand.
Popular PC game series “Command & Conquer” features an organization called “The Black Hand”, an elite division within the Brotherhood of Nod whose operations are based in Sarajevo.
The video game Just Cause features an elite group of soldiers called The Black Hand. These are the hardest enemies in the game and also have very rare vehicles that many players frequently try to acquire.
Popular band Franz Ferdinand played a secret show under the name of ‘The Black Hand’ continuing their theme of the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria.
Canadian rapper Cadence Weapon refers to this group (and, specifically, Gavrilo Princip) in his song, “Black Hand.”
In the final episode of the forth season of the The West Wing (Twenty-five), fictional Speaker of the House Glenallen Walken (played by John Goodman) tells the story of the Black Hand’s involvement in the assassination of Franz Ferdinand to illustrate how relatives of political leaders can spark global wars.
References
- ^ Black Hand
- ^ The Black Hand: The Secret Serbian Terrorist Society
- ^ Gavrilo Princip and the Black Hand organization
See also
External links
In May 1911, ten men in Serbia formed the Black Hand Secret Society. Early members included Colonel Dragutin Dimitrijevic, the chief of the Intelligence Department of the Serbian General Staff, Major Voja Tankosic and Milan Ciganovic.
The main objective of the Black Hand was the creation, by means of violence, of a Greater Serbia. Its stated aim was: “To realize the national ideal, the unification of all Serbs. This organisation prefers terrorist action to cultural activities; it will therefore remain secret.”
Dragutin Dimitrijevic, who used the codename, Apis, established himself as the leader of the Black Hand. In 1911 he sent a member to assassinate Emperor Franz Josef. When this failed, Dimitrijevic turned his attention to General Oskar Potiorek, Governor of the Austrian provinces of Bosnia-Herzegovina. Dimitrijevic recruited Muhamed Mehmedbasic to kill Potiorek with a poisoned dagger. However, Mehmedbasic returned to Belgrade after failing to carry out the task.
By 1914 there were around 2,500 members of the Black Hand. The group was mainly made up of junior army officers but also included lawyers, journalists and university professors. About 30 of these lived and worked in Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Three senior members of the Black Hand group, Dragutin Dimitrijevic, Milan Ciganovic, and Major Voja Tankosic, decided that Archduke Franz Ferdinand should be assassinated. Dimitrijevic was concerned about the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, Ferdinand’s plans to grant concessions to the South Slavs. Dimitrijevic feared that if this happened, an independent Serbian state would be more difficult to achieve.
When Dragutin Dimitrijevic heard that Archduke Franz Ferdinand was planning to visit Sarajevo in June 1914, he sent three members of the Black Hand group, Gavrilo Princip, Nedjelko Cabrinovic and Trifko Grabez from Serbia to assassinate him. Nikola Pasic, the prime minister of Serbia, Pasic heard about the plot and gave instructions for the three men to be arrested. However, his orders were not implemented and Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated.
Several members of the Black Hand group interrogated by the Austrian authorities claimed that three men from Serbia, Dragutin Dimitrijevic, Milan Ciganovic, and Major Voja Tankosic, had organised the plot. On 25th July, 1914, the Austro-Hungarian government demanded that the Serbian government arrest the men and send them to face trial in Vienna.
On 25th July, 1914, Nikola Pasic, the prime minister of Serbia, told the Austro-Hungarian government that he was unable to hand over these three men as it “would be a violation of Serbia’s Constitution and criminal in law”. Three days later Austro-Hungarian declared war on Serbia.
During the first two years of the First World War the Serbian Army suffered a series of military defeats. Nikola Pasic, who blamed the Black Hand for the war, and in December 1916 decided to disband the organisation. Dragutin Dimitrijevic and several of the Black Hand leaders were arrested and executed the following year.
