A Sacred Insult

Why was June 28 so explosive? It was Vidovdan — St. Vitus' Day — the date Serbs mourn their crushing defeat at the Battle of Kosovo in 1389. To Serbian nationalists, the day stood for centuries of foreign rule. Choosing it for a royal tour read like a deliberate taunt.

The Archduke's own security advisers urged him to cancel or cut the visit short. He brushed them off and rode through the city in an open car, slowly, in full view.

That decision put him within a few feet of his killers. A nineteen-year-old named Gavrilo Princip was waiting in the crowd, certain the plot had already collapsed.