Oskar Potiorek was an officer of the Austro-Hungarian Army, who served as Governor of Bosnia and Herzegovina from 1911 to 1914. He was a passenger in the car carrying Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife Duchess Sophie of Hohenberg when they were assassinated in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914. Potiorek had failed to inform the driver of a change of route which led the royal car to take a wrong turn, stalling after trying to turn around, and ending up in front of Gavrilo Princip. In World War I, Potiorek commanded the Austro-Hungarian forces in the failed Serbian Campaign of 1914. He was removed from command, retiring from the army shortly afterward.

The anti-Serb riots in Sarajevo consisted of large-scale anti-Serb violence in Sarajevo on 28 and 29 June 1914 after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. Encouraged by the Austro-Hungarian government, the violent demonstrations assumed the characteristics of a pogrom, which led to ethnic divisions that were unprecedented in the city's history. Two Serbs were killed on the first day of the demonstrations, and many others were attacked. Numerous houses, shops and institutions owned by Serbs were razed or pillaged.