Alekseeva, E. O., Reshetov, A. V. «The enemy of the Slavs fell a victim to a Slavic bullet»: reaction of St. Petersburg newspapers to the assassination of Franz Ferdinand

Alekseeva, Elena Olegovna - Chief Librarian of the Newspapers Department, The National Library of Russia, St. Petersburg, Russia, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.;

Reshetov, Anton Viktorovich - bibliographer of the Newspapers Department, The National Library of Russia, St. Petersbug, Russia, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

On the basis of abundant and diverse materials in St. Petersburg newspapers, this article reviews the first reaction to the assassination of Franz Ferdinand, analyzes the image of the victim and the criminals, their motives, the consequences for Austria and Serbia, and also for Russia. With all the diversity and different political orientation of St. Petersburg newspapers, almost all publications created a negative image of the deceased, who himself in many ways fell a victim to his own views. People remarked his dislike for Russia, Serbia, militaristic convictions and commitment to the Catholic Church. This image was contrasted by a figure of Princip and his associates, who were mainly represented as young patriots. First days after the murder, most journalists agreed that the events in Sarajevo had rather postponed a possible armed conflict: the «war party» in Austria weakened its influence significantly after losing their leader. The reviewed Right publications were actively developeding conspiracy theories: according to their information, behind the assassination of the archduke stood Jews, Masons and the «secret world government». Also there was published a conspiracy version, aimed to provoke an armed conflict between Russia and Germany. As for the possible consequences of the death of the Archduke itself, some of the reviewed publications saw a chance for establishing a lasting peace in Europe (referring to the fact that it was the deceased who supported militarism), others considered the possibility of turning Austria to St. Petersburg, and also a possible collapse of the Habsburg Empire was analyzed. In addition, several publications pointed out that the death of Franz Ferdinand could strengthen the Austrian throne, because his religious and political views and militaristic aspirations could lead to the collapse of the Dual monarchy.

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