3. Even after the first assassination attempt Governor Lieutenant General Oskar Pitiorek did not provide extra security for the Archduke
Having served as a military commander in the Austro-Hungarian army, Oskar Pitiorek became the governor of Bosnia from 1911 to 1914. Born in Bad Bleiberg in 1853, Pitiorek joined the Austro-Hungarian general staff in 1879 and was appointed deputy chief by Emperor Franz Joseph in 1902.
Pitiorek invited Franz Ferdinand to watch his troops on maneuvers scheduled for 26 and 27 June 1914. He was to be responsible for the safety of Archduke Franz Ferdinand during the visit. While being taken to the city hall for the reception and speeches, Nedjelko Cabrinovic, a member of the Black Hand Serbian nationalist secret society threw a grenade at the Archduke’s car. If not for the driver who took evasive action to speed from the scene, then the bomb would have hit the car.
After the scene, Pitiorek would have been wise to arrange for extra security for the Archduke but worried about his own prestige, he resisted calling out the troops that had been on maneuvers in the rain for two days because they didn’t have presentable dress uniforms. What followed did not only cause the death of Franz Ferdinand and his wife but precipitated the outbreak of World War I.