Young Bosnia (Bosnian, Croatian, and Serbian: Mlada Bosna or Млада Босна) was a revolutionary movement active before World War I, the members were predominantly school students [1] who were ethnic Serbs,[2] but included Bosniaks. The motivation and goals of the group is disputed among historians between either being a Serbian nationalist[2] (Unification of Serbs under foreign rule) or a Pan-Yugoslav (Unification of South Slavs, Pan-Slavic) organization.[3][4][5]
It was formed before World War I in Bosnia and Herzegovina, with significant influence from Serbia.[4][5]
Two notable organizations are often referred to under the banner Young Bosnia: the "Narodna Odbrana" and the "Black Hand." During a Serbian kangaroo court in French-occupied Salonika in 1916-1917, Chief of Serbian Military Intelligence Dragutin Dimitrijević Apis testified that he had organized the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, in Sarajevo on June 28th, 1914, (the assassin was Gavrilo Princip). In the process, he used not only his power over elements of the Serbian military, but also the Black Hand. Leaders of the Black Hand in turn had penetrated the "Narodna Obrana" and used the Narodna organization to infiltrate the arms and assassins into Sarajevo.
The Serbian National Organization of Petar Kočić had ties with the Young Bosnia.[2]
"The political union of the Yugoslavs [..] was my basic idea [..] I am a Yugoslav nationalist, aiming for the unification of all Yugoslavs, and I do not care what form of state, but it must be free from Austria"
-Gavrilo Princip during his trial[2]
Claimed members of Young Bosnia who participated in the assassination were: