page_title: Causes of World War I
section_title: Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand by Serbian irredentists, 28 June 1914
hierarchical_section_title: Causes of World War I / July Crisis: The chain of events / Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand by Serbian irredentists, 28 June 1914
caption_attribution_description: English: Newspaper article (The Winnipeg Tribune, 29 June 1914) of assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg in Sarajevo, explicitly portending how "War May Result". Citation: &#32;(29 June 1914).&#32;"Austria Will Avenge Murder". The Winnipeg Tribune: 1. {{cite news |title=Austria Will Avenge Murder |url=https://newspaperarchive.com/browse/ca/mb/winnipeg/winnipeg-tribune/1914/jun-29-p-1/ |work=The Winnipeg Tribune |date=29 June 1914 |page=1}} To prevent a "tall, thin" image, uploader digitally cut-and-pasted columns to form a compacted, horizontally oriented view. Viewers desiring a higher-resolution image can download Version 2, below (do not revert).
context_page_description: The causes of World War I remain controversial. World War I began in the Balkans in July 28, 1914 and ended on November 11, 1918, leaving 17 million dead and 20 million wounded.
  Scholars looking at the long term seek to explain why two rival sets of powers came into conflict by 1914. They look at such factors as political, territorial and economic competition, militarism, a complex web of alliances and alignments, imperialism, the growth of nationalism, and the power vacuum created by the decline of the Ottoman Empire. Other important long-term or structural factors that are often studied include unresolved territorial disputes, the perceived breakdown of the European balance of power, convoluted and fragmented governance, the arms races of the previous decades, and military planning.
  Scholars seeking short-term analysis focus on the summer of 1914 ask whether the conflict could have been stopped or deeper causes made it inevitable.
context_section_description: On 28 June 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the heir presumptive to the Austro-Hungarian throne, and his wife, Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg, are shot dead by two gun shots in Sarajevo by Gavrilo Princip, one of a group of six assassins (five Serbs and one Bosniak) co-ordinated by Danilo Ilić, a Bosnian Serb and a member of the Black Hand secret society.
  The assassination is significant because it was perceived by Austria-Hungary as an existential challenge and so was viewed as providing a casus belli with Serbia. Emperor Franz Josef was 84 and so the assassination of his heir, so soon before he was likely to hand over the crown, was seen as a direct challenge to the empire. Many ministers in Austria, especially Berchtold, argue that the act must be avenged. Moreover, the Archduke had been a decisive voice for peace in the previous years but was now removed from the discussions. The assassination triggered the July Crisis, which turned a local conflict into a European and later a world war.
caption: Grave implications of the assassination were immediately recognized, as in this 29 June article with subtitles "War Sequel?" and "War May Result", and stating the assassination was "engineered by persons having a more mature organizing ability than that of the youthful assassins".[54]
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