Dragutin Dimitrijević "Apis" Serbian Cyrillic Драгутин Димитријевић Апис (August 17, 1876 - June 27, 1917), was a Serbian nationalist leader. He was the head of the Black Hand group which assassinated Serbian King Aleksandar Obrenović in 1903, and Franz Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria in 1914. The latter assassination was the immediate cause of World War I. The Serbian language or Serb language is one of the standard versions of the Central-South Slavic diasystem, formerly (and still frequently) called Serbo-Croatian. ... The Cyrillic alphabet (or azbuka, from the old name of the first letters) is an alphabet used to write six natural Slavic languages (Belarusian, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Russian, Serbian, and Ukrainian) and many other languages of the former Soviet Union, Asia and Eastern Europe. ... August 17 is the 229th day of the year (230th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1876 is a leap year starting on Saturday. ... June 27 is the 178th day of the year (179th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 187 days remaining. ... 1917 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... Serbia and Montenegro  – Serbia    – Kosovo and Metohia        (UN administration)    – Vojvodina  – Montenegro Official language Serbian1 Capital Belgrade Area  – Total  – % water  88,361 km²  n/a Population  – Total (2002)     (without Kosovo)  – Density  7. ... Black Hand, or Crna Ruka (Црна Рука), officially Ujedinjenje ili Smrt (Ујединјеје или Смрт) (Unification or Death) was a secret association founded in Serbia by pan- Serbian nationalists in May 1911 with the intention of uniting all of the territories containing Serb populations (notably Bosnia and Herzegovina, annexed by Austria... Coat of Arms of Serbia This is the list of Serbian monarchs. ... Alexander Obrenovich (Aleksandar Obrenović (Roman), Александар Обреновић (Cyrillic)) (August 14, 1876 - June 11, 1903), was king of Serbia. ... Franz Ferdinand links to here. ... 1914 is a common year starting on Thursday. ... Ypres, 1917, in the vicinity of the Battle of Passchendaele. ...

Dragutin Dimitrijevic was born in Serbia in 1877. At eighteen Dimitrijevic went to the Belgrade Military Academy. A brilliant student, Dimitrijevic, graduated from the academy with such a good record he was immediately recruited into the General Staff of the Serbian Army. An ardent nationalist, he decided to become a specialist in terrorism.

In 1903 Captain Dimitrijevic and a group of junior officers planned the assassination of the the autocratic and unpopular king of Serbia. The group stormed the royal palace and killed both King Alexander and his wife Queen Draga. During the attack Dimitrijevic was badly wounded and although he eventually recovered, the three bullets from the encounter were never removed from his body.

The Serbian parliament described Dimitrijevic as "the saviour of the fatherland" and he was appointed Professor of Tactics at the Military Academy. He visited Germany and Russia where he studied the latest military ideas. During the Balkan Wars (1912-13) Dimitrijevic military planning helped the Serbian Army to achieve several important victories.

Dimitrijevic's main concern was the liberation of Serbia from Austro-Hungary. Dimitrijevic, who used the codename, Apis, became leader of the secret Black Hand group. In 1911 Dimitrijevic organised an attempt to assassinate Emperor Franz Josef. When this failed, Dimitrijevic turned his attention to the the heir to the throne, Archduke Franz Ferdinand. Dimitrijevic was concerned about Ferdinand's plans to grant concessions to the South Slavs. Dimitrijevic feared that if this happened, an independent Serbian state would be more difficult to achieve.

When Dimitrijevic heard that Archduke Franz Ferdinand was planning to visit Sarajevo in June 1914, he sent three members of the Black Hand group, Gavrilo Princip, Nedjelko Cabrinovic and Trifko Grabez from Serbia to assassinate him.

Unknown to Dimitrijevic, Major Voja Tankosic, was informing Nikola Pasic, the prime minister of Serbia about the plot. Although Pasic supported the main objectives of the Black Hand group, he did not want the assassination to take place as he feared it would lead to a war with Austro-Hungarian. He therefore gave instructions for Gavrilo Princip, Nedjelko Cabrinovic and Trifko Grabez to be arrested when they attempted to leave the country. However, his orders were not implemented and the three man arrived in Bosnia-Herzegovina where they joined forces with fellow conspirators, Muhamed Mehmedbasic, Danilo Ilic, Vaso Cubrilovic, Cvijetko Popovic, Misko Jovanovic and Veljko Cubrilovic.

After Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated on 28th June, 1914, several members of the Black Hand group interrogated by the Austrian authorities, claimed that three men from Serbia, Dimitrijevic, Milan Ciganovic, and Major Voja Tankosic, had organised the plot. On 25th July, 1914, the Austro-Hungarian government demanded that the Serbian government arrest the men and send them to face trial in Vienna.

On 25th July, 1914, Nikola Pasic, the prime minister of Serbia, told the Austro-Hungarian government that he was unable to hand over these three men as it "would be a violation of Serbia's Constitution and criminal in law". Three days later Austro-Hungarian declared war on Serbia.

During the first two years of the First World War the Serbian Army suffered a series of military defeats. Nikola Pasic, who blamed the Black Hand for the war, decided to disband the organisation. Dimitrijevic and several of its leaders were arrested. On 23rd May 1917 Dimitrijevic was found guilty of treason and sentenced to death. Dragutin Dimitrijevic was executed on 11th June, 1917.