Conclusion
The Black Hand and Dragutin Dimitrijevic’s organization, radical beliefs, and methods of leadership meant that he alone had the ability to start World War I. The complex structure of the Black hand assured that the assassins would not be caught in route to Sarajevo. Their assassination of a single aristocrat sparked the biggest war the world had seen. This single act of murderer changed the world as we know it; its effects and results touching every continent from the Americas to Europe to Australia. Their leadership was fierce and triumphant, their legacy the foundation of the twentieth century.
The Black Hand fell apart before the end of the war. By the war's end , the group was virtually forgotten. Dimitrijevic was tried in 1917 for reasons unrelated to Archduke Ferdinand's assassination and was executed in 1917. Only two of the seven original Black Hand assassins survived World War I, the last dying in 1990. "The Black Hand was successful at another murder, but this time worlds would collide, and many more would die as a consequence. They had no idea of how big the effects of the assassination in Sarajevo would be. The idea of unification for all Serbs would ultimately divide much of the world. The attempt to realize an aspiration cherished by all Serbs set off chain reactions that would continue throughout the twentieth century. The hundred years following the creation of the Black Hand would be years of unease and terror." -Oswego college review, 2009 |
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