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Black Hand, or Crna Ruka, officially Ujedinjenje ili Smrt ("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-Herzegovina, annexed by Austria-Hungary in October 1908). The society's implication in the June 1914 assassination in Sarajevo of Franz Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria helped spark World War I.
The group encompassed a range of ideological outlooks, from conspiratorially-minded army officers to idealistic youths, sometimes tending towards republicanism despite the acquiescence of nationalistic royal circles in its activities (the movement's leader, Col. Dragutin Dimitrijevic or "Apis", had been instrumental in the June 1903 coup which had brought King Petar Karadjordjevic to the Serbian throne following 45 years of rule by the rival Obrenovic dynasty).
In May 1917Events January 2 The Royal Bank of Canada takes over Quebec Bank. January 22 World War I: President Woodrow Wilson calls for "peace without victory" in Europe. January 25 The Danish West Indies is sold to the United States for $25 million January 25 Anti- Dimitrijevic was tried on charges of plotting against the royal government, then exiled in ThessalonikiThessaloniki is the second-largest city of Greece and is the principal city of the Greek region of Macedonia. Greeks refer to it unofficially as the "capital of Macedonia". The city is also known variously as Selanik Salonika or Salonica , Solun). It has, Greece following Serbia's occupation by Austro-Hungarian, German and Bulgarian forces in late 1915Events January 12 The Rocky Mountain National Park is established by an act of Congress. January 12 United States House of Representatives rejects proposal to give women the right to vote. January 13 An earthquake (6. 8 in Richter scale) in Avezzano, Ital. His subsequent execution signalled the Black Hand's eclipse by the monarchist White Hand, which was to dominate the political outlook of military leaders in the inter-war YugoslavThe Kingdom of Yugoslavia was a Balkan state which existed from December 1, 1918 to mid-April 1941. History The kingdom was formed in 1918 under the name Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes ( Serbo-Croatian Kraljevina Srba, Hrvata i Slovenaca Slovenian kingdom.