Did the Russians Off Archduke Ferdinand?! January 13, 2016
Author: Beach Combing | in : Contemporary , trackback
There follows that rarest of things. A credible conspiracy theory. Our two heroes are Dragutin Dimitrijević (aka Apis, obit 1917) Chief of Serb Military Intelligence and Viktor Artamonov (obit 1942), a Russian military liaison officer in Serbia. Apis is remembered by history as the organizer of Archduke Ferdinand’s assassination and the organizer of the Black Hand: he had the slightly psycho air of a Balkan patriot and had, in 1903, personally led the murderers of the Serb King and Queen. Viktor was part of a diplomatic mission with a strong pan-Slav philosophy: in fact, Artamonov, later in life, would support the creation of a South Slav kingdom, namely Yugoslavia. Viktor and Dragutin knew each other well.
Can we go further though and suggest that Artamonov actually helped with the assassination at Sarajevo? The evidence is there: the question is whether it happens to be true or not. In 1953 Tito’s Yugoslav government revealed documents written by Apis where he alleges that Artamonov had funded the Sarajevo operation. Apis had written this material for his trial in 1917 where he was found guilty by the Serb government and executed. Only Serbians can reduce a shooting to light opera, Apis went out yelling platitudes about a Greater Serbia: he already had three bullets in his body from his 1903 attack on the Serb royal family.
Here, in any case, is the dirt.
‘In agreement with Artamanov, the Russian military attaché, I hired Malobabic to organise Ferdinand’s murder upon his arrival in Sarajevo.’*
No one questions that Apis really wrote this. The question is whether Apis was telling the truth. If he was telling the truth then the next question is whether this was a freelance operation on the part of a rogue Russian military attaché (and there is no one more likely to go rogue in a diplomatic mission…); or whether this was something that had been discussed back in Moscow with the Tsar. In the world of conspiracy theory decisions are always made at the top level, but only some members of the Serb cabinet knew what Apis was cooking up in Sarajevo. Artamonov made no mention of the plot before it happened in his cables to Moscow; he had also criticized the Black Hand group in earlier reports. But neither of these points mean that he could not have set up a ‘black’ operation with Apis.
Historians have been understandably chary about this information. But few reject it out of hand. Clark in the Sleepwalkers is unsure. McMeekin in The Russian Origins, is emphatic that Artamonov knew etc etc. A compromise might be that Apis, something of a blowhard, had boasted of the plot to Artamonov and then tried to give himself a greater sense of importance at his trial by claiming Russian involvement? Russia and Britain, incidentally, both required that he be spared by the Yugoslav king.
Anything else on the Russian background to Archduke Ferdinand’s Assassination: drbeachcombing AT yahoo DOT com
*There is some confusion in the sources whether this comes from Apis’ Last Will and Testament or from a letter submitted to the court. The text of the will Beach has seen does not include the sentence. It seems to be from the letter. However, a copy of the original in the original language would be most welcome!
