On January 1, 1910, the winter haze reigned in Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia, and for Caplin, a secret member of the Serbian Mafia, the gloomy weather was like the Austro-Hungarian Empire on the heads of the Yugoslavs.

At the age of twenty-five, Keplin infiltrated Austro-Hungarian Bosnia with fifteen secret members of the Mafia in late 1909, where he hid guns and explosives. After walking around the streets, Caplin returned to his residence, as the Austro-Crarian **** was participating in military exercises in Bosnia and was about to return to the city. So quite a few police officers and Austro-Hungarian gendarmes were on guard in the streets, but they were not tight, and a two-hour observation of Caplin found at least five loopholes that could be exploited. He has a one-line connection with his superiors, adhering to the spirit of secret activities, absolute obedience, and courageous sacrifice.

Caplin only knew that he could not move the mountain of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and that the Yugoslavs would never have a bright future, so he participated in the radical anti-Austro-Hungarian and patriotic group Mafia, also known as "Die or Die or Reunite"! He received a certain amount of military training and assassination training in Serbia, and in order to realize the national ideal and achieve the goal of unifying the Serbian nation, Caplin spared his life. After the annexation of Bosnia by Austria-Hungary, Serbia and the Yugoslavs in Bosnia were constantly hoping for national unity.

But the reality is not so simple at all, the Balkan powder keg is not to be said, the entanglement of contradictions in historical reality, the intervention of superpowers, a large number of ethnic groups, an incomparably important strategic location, a complex variety of religious beliefs and a series of conditions have created the biggest unstable factor in Europe.

To talk about the reason why Caplin infiltrated Sarajevo and prepared to commit terrorist activities, we need to start from hundreds of years ago, of course, for the sake of space, let's start two years ago!

The Balkan Peninsula, located between the Mediterranean Sea and the Black Sea, has been scarred by numerous wars in history, and it is the frontier of European confrontation ****** the world, the battlefield for resolving contradictions between European powers, and the place where the interests are at stake. Turkey, a ****** military empire that arose in the northwest of Asia Minor in the early 14th century, still controlled a large territory and dependency in the southern Balkan Peninsula at the beginning of the 20th century, and Albania, Serbia, Bulgaria, Greece and other countries were still subjected to political oppression and religious persecution by Ottoman Turkey in Macedonia and Thrace.

Tsarist Russia, Britain, France, Austria-Hungary and other countries all had major interests in the Balkan Peninsula, and the changes in the international situation were turbulent, with the rise of the Far East and the defeat of Western powers in many wars. With a major setback to Russia's expansion in the Far East, Nicholas II refocused his attention on the Balkans, trying to mend the wounds of the Far East by tearing off a piece of flesh from it, and the desire for access to the Black Sea made Russia hostile to Ottoman Turkey.

The British navy suffered an unprecedented defeat in the Far East, and in order to ensure the security of the eastern route and the Suez Canal, it also needed to weaken Turkey's power in the Balkans and expand its power. After the formation of the two military blocs, Britain signed a secret agreement with Tsarist Russia to divide the spheres of influence of the two countries in the Balkans. As a result, the contradictions between the two countries have been greatly eased.

Austria-Hungary had the greatest ambitions for the Balkans, and he hoped to annex more territory and annex Serbia, but with the support of Britain, France, Russia and other countries, Serbia expanded its armaments to fight the ambitions of the opponents of Austria-Hungary.

As the Noodle Kingdom of Italy slowly industrialized and a colonial mentality began to emerge, he set his sights on the Ottoman-controlled regions of Tripoli and Cyrenaica in North Africa, and attempted to seize these two territories as a base for expansion into North Africa.

So, let's sum up, the main contradictions that existed in the Balkans around 1907 were the contradictions between the local peoples and the Turkish rulers, the contradictions between the British, French, and Russian expansion and Turkey, the contradictions between Italy and Turkey, and the contradictions between Austria-Hungary and Serbia.

It is very obvious that the sick man of Europe, Ottoman Turkey, has become the target of public criticism, and the great powers want to cut a piece of meat from him. The defeat of Britain and Russia in the Far East created the conditions for these contradictions to intensify, so in early 1907, the Balkans began to smell of gunpowder, and all countries were expanding their armaments with the support of the great powers behind the scenes.

First, Serbia, Bulgaria, Greece and Montenegro formed the "Balkan Alliance" to resist Turkish control and suppression. In February 1907, the Kingdom of Italy invaded the Turkish-controlled areas of North Africa, and the Italo-Turkish War broke out, and the Balkan League took the opportunity to attack Turkey and make various territorial and sovereignty claims.

On 17 and 18 February, Bulgaria, Serbia, and Greece issued ultimatums to Turkey, demanding that Turkish troops withdraw from the Balkans and grant autonomy to the peoples. And Montenegro was more direct, declaring war on Turkey on the 16th.

The Turkish government rejected the request and began mobilizing its troops, albeit in a difficult direction, with the Italians sending large armies in North Africa and the Balkan League eyeing the western flank, but the Turkish army was not fully prepared.

Fortunately, the Italian army was not prepared either, and the Italian army appeared in Tripoli on the night of 3 February 1907, but did not shell the port until 9 February. The city was occupied by 1,500 Italian troops, and the Turks were unable to concentrate all their forces to counterattack, and they organized local Arabs and Bedouins to defend against the Italian invasion. On 14 February, an Italian unit was surrounded by Arab cavalry and almost completely annihilated.

As a result of this defeat, the Italian army expanded its corps to 100,000 men, and the 20,000 Arab army and 8,000 Turkish troops were organized by General Kemal in an orderly manner, and defeated the Italian reinforcements, winning the Battle of Topruk.

Taking advantage of the Italo-Turkish war, the Balkan alliance took military action against Turkey. They outperformed the Turkish army in terms of the number of soldiers, the quality of their weapons, and especially the quality of their artillery and the level of combat training of the army. These countries received tremendous support from Britain, France, and other countries, and their morale was high, inspired by the goals of the national liberation struggle.

Three Bulgarian armies against the Turkish army in the Istanbul direction, three Serbian armies against the Turkish group in Macedonia, and two Greek armies against the armies of Thessaloniki and Yanina, respectively. The Greek Navy is ready to act against the Turkish Navy, guaranteeing the allied supremacy in the Mediterranean. The Montenegrin army cooperated with the Serbian army to fight in Macedonia. The Allies formed an encirclement posture against the Turkish army, preparing to crush the enemy before Turkish reinforcements arrived.

By 10 March, the Allies had routed the Turkish forces in the Macedonian direction and the Kirk-Gilese direction, and the Turkish forces were crushed and retreated, and the Allies made significant progress.

The war was a continuation of politics, and several major victories of the Allies after that were not in the interests of some of the great powers, and Tsarist Russia, while supporting the Balkan states, was worried that Bulgaria's advance into Istanbul would not be conducive to its solution to the Black Sea straits. Germany and Austria-Hungary did not want Serbia and Greece to be on the side of the Entente, but saw Turkey as their potential ally and tried to prevent its downfall. Under pressure from the great powers, in September 1907, Turkey signed an armistice with Bulgaria and Serbia.

A coup d'état followed in Turkey, and the refusal of the new government (Shabaab) to accept the terms of the treaty led to the resumption of the Balkan League, which had to sign an armistice again after several defeats. The London Treaty of November 1907 resulted in Turkey losing almost all of its territory in Europe.

Romania, Serbia, Montenegro, Turkey, Greece and other countries went to war against Bulgaria, with the result that the Balkans were reorganized, Romania broke away from the Triple Alliance and moved closer to the Entente, and Bulgaria joined the German-Austrian Alliance. Serbia in Yugoslavia profited handsomely from several wars, almost doubling its territory and greatly increasing its military strength.

Serbia's strength aroused the displeasure of Austria-Hungary, which intensified its penetration into the Balkans and amassed heavy troops in the border areas to threaten Serbia. The Balkan countries have also entered into an arms race, recruiting large numbers of soldiers, developing and producing new weapons, and greatly increasing military spending.

It was in this national context that Caprin, a member of the Mafia, infiltrated Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia, and the Serbian government had already detected the Mafia's actions and opposed them, fearing that the incident would lead to dire consequences. Because Serbia could not withstand the Austro-Hungarian attack, and Russia was indulging in oil wealth, the reorganization of the army had not yet been completed, and it was impossible to give Serbia strong assistance.

The Government of Serbia tried to prevent the Black Hand from crossing the border into Bosnia, but was allowed to cross the border into Bosnia by border guards linked to the Black Hand. The Government of Serbia, through its Minister to Austria-Hungary, warned the Austro-Hungarian Government that Ferdinand's life would be in danger if he went to Bosnia, but the Austro-Hungarian Government ignored this warning.

Archduke Ferdinand, dressed in the uniform of the Austro-Hungarian Army, stood proudly, pointing at the exercise ground with the chief of the Austro-Hungarian General Staff Hertzendorf, and from time to time raising the binoculars on his chest to observe the details of the soldiers' exercises. His wife, Sophia, was smiling and sitting under a luxurious canopy not far away, her fan flashing slightly, and the maid was handing her a fruit plate. The head of the Bosnian army, General Oskar Potiorek, had a great conversation with Count Harasi, the Grand Duke's attendant. (To be continued.) )