Gavrilo Princip: Freedom Fighter or Terrorist?
Being a terrorist or freedom fighter truly depends on which side you are. For example the Austro-Hungarians most likely thought Gavrilo Princip was a terrorist because he disturbed their rein of power, however to the Serbians, Gavrilo was most likely seen as a freedom fighter. Furthermore the best way to decide is to be an un-biased third party. First off looking at the definitions and looking at widely regarded terrorist attack such as 911, we look at why Gavrilo attacked. In 911 terrorists attack another countries citizen in their own country, the key part is that it was in another person’s country. Looking at Gavrilo he attacked the political party that over took his country. He simply wanted his own country back, he was filled with sovereignty. Furthermore it’s who (person) he attacked and the power of that person. As we already know Franz Ferdinand was the next to rule the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Gavrilo and the rest of the Black Hand did not attack any citizens or powerful people to make a point. They attacked to stop the tyranny over their country; they shed the least amount of blood. It wasn’t to tell of the Austro-Hungarians, and say they can kill everyone. It was to say this is our country, we demand sovereignty. They wanted to stop their rule right then and there. To further understand why this was done, we look at for whom it was for, and why Gavrilo joined the Black Hand. Gavrilo was dying of tuberculoses, he wasn’t doing it solely for himself, he looked at how oppressed his people were and wanted to do something meaningful with the remander of his life. In the video we watched it said Gavrilo wanted to be remembered. He knew he was dying but he failed to act the first time because he was scared, he still could have shot even with the commotion that happened earlier. However he did fail to act, now this doesn’t sound like a terrorist or villain. Yes further on he shot Franz because he knew this was what needed to be done. Finally Gavrilo attacked