The assassination of a head of state, or a very high state official, can certainly be an act of war. Come to think of it, even a sentry at the border being killed could be an act of war, and is sometimes the very first act of war.
My question is whether it is when carried out by free agents.
If you’re extending “affiliated” so that it describes Princip and Serbia, then on what basis might you conclude the 9/11 highjackers were NOT affliated with a nation?
And it’s beyond question that the assassination of a person can be an act of war.
I agree with this assessment, but my original question remains… assuming we are all in agreement that some lone or conspiring individuals carry out a heinous act of terrorism, can it legitimately be considered “an act of way” in terms of either national or international law? I think the Tim McVeigh, for instance, was treated as a commin criminal.
From what I dimly remember about an international law course I once took, individual persons are nearly non-existent from the POV of international law, which alomost solely concerned with nations and international organizations. There are a very few exceptions, like the UN Declaration of Human Rights (I probably have that title wrong), and a few war crimes, but by and large the actions of mere people are legislated by nations. But even the war crimes trials I’m aware of involved individuals acting as agents of their nations.
The assassination was an act of terrorism (unless someone would seriously like to claim that the Black Hand was actually a state). Austria’s’ retaliatory attack on the nation of Serbia was an act of war.
Is that really so hard?
Agreed, unfortunately they’re both bogus.
All it took was a few plane tickets, some boxcutters, and willpower. Who can’t do that? The magnitude did make a lot of us forget it was a crime and not an act of war, sure.
That gets into a really fuzzy area, when the use of military force is not necessarily an act of war but represents the inadequacy of police forces to deal with a crime. Yes, that misled a lot of people, too, and still does.
If so, then this is the only case in which that’s been asserted.
IOW, is this case unique in history? Certainly many still believe so, but it’s about time that was fixed.