Archduke Ferdinand assassinated - Jun 28, 1914 - HISTORY.com Archduke Ferdinand assassinated Publisher A+E Networks On this day in 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife Sophie are shot to death by a Bosnian Serb nationalist during an official visit to the Bosnian capital of Sarajevo. The killings sparked a chain of events that led to the outbreak of World War I by early August. On June 28, 1919, five years to the day after Franz Ferdinand’s death, Germany and the Allied Powers signed the Treaty of Versailles, officially marking the end of World War I. The archduke traveled to Sarajevo in June 1914 to inspect the imperial armed forces in Bosnia and Herzegovina, annexed by Austria-Hungary in 1908. The annexation had angered Serbian nationalists, who believed the territories should be part of Serbia.

A group of young nationalists hatched a plot to kill the archduke during his visit to Sarajevo, and after some missteps, 19-year-old Gavrilo Princip was able to shoot the royal couple at point-blank range, while they traveled in their official procession, killing both almost instantly. The assassination set off a rapid chain of events, as Austria-Hungary immediately blamed the Serbian government for the attack. As large and powerful Russia supported Serbia, Austria asked for assurances that Germany would step in on its side against Russia and its allies, including France and possibly Great Britain. On July 28, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, and the fragile peace between Europe’s great powers collapsed, beginning the devastating conflict now known as the First World War. After more than four years of bloodshed, the Great War ended on November 11, 1918, after Germany, the last of the Central Powers, surrendered to the Allies. At the peace conference in Paris in 1919, Allied leaders would state their desire to build a post-war world that was safe from future wars of such enormous scale.

The Versailles Treaty, signed on June 28, 1919, tragically failed to achieve this objective. U.S. President Woodrow Wilson’s grand dreams of an international peace-keeping organization faltered when put into practice as the League of Nations. Even worse, the harsh terms imposed on Germany, the war’s biggest loser, led to widespread resentment of the treaty and its authors in that country–a resentment that would culminate in the outbreak of the Second World War two decades later. Related Videos First World War centenary: the assassination of Franz Ferdinand, as it happened - Telegraph World War One First World War centenary: the assassination of Franz Ferdinand, as it happened On Sunday June 28 1914 in Sarajevo, Gavrilo Princip fired the shot that killed the Archduke and started the train of events that led to global war. Here is a step by step account of how the dramatic day unfolded The Daily Telegraph, June 29 1914 By Richard Preston 8:19PM BST 27 Jun 2014 Our journey starts with an extremely promising omen. Here our car burns, and down there they will throw bombs at us.

Archduke Franz Ferdinand comments wryly on the fact that his journey to Bosnia in June 1914 begins with his car overheating The Archduke: Franz Ferdinand, the bumptious, little-loved 51-year-old nephew of the ailing Emperor Franz Joseph, was heir presumptive to the Austro-Hungarian throne. In 1913 he was made inspector general of the armed forces of Austria-Hungary; it was this role that took him to Bosnia in June 1914, to inspect the army’s summer manoeuvres. The Duchess: Franz Ferdinand married Countess Sophie Chotek for love, for which both paid a price. She was from a Czech noble family but was deemed unfit to be a Habsburg bride; she had been a lady-in-waiting to Archduchess Isabella, whose sister Franz Ferdinand was expected to marry. Their marriage was morganatic, meaning their children were excluded from the line of succession. Although she was made Duchess of Hohenberg in 1909, the slights were constant at functions such as imperial banquets, where she had to enter the room last.

[Sophie] could never share [Franz Ferdinand’s] rank ... could never share his splendours, could never even sit by his side on any public occasion. There was one loophole ... his wife could enjoy the recognition of his rank when he was acting in a military capacity. Hence, he decided, in 1914, to inspect the army in Bosnia. There, at its capital Sarajevo, the Archduke and his wife could ride in an open carriage side by side ... Thus, for love, did the Archduke go to his death. AJP Taylor Related Articles What sort of a man was Archduke Franz Ferdinand? 28 Jun 2014 The family: Three much-loved children, aged between 10 and 12 – Princess Sophie von Hohenberg (1901-1990), Maximilian, Duke of Hohenberg (1902-1962), Prince Ernst von Hohenberg (1904-1954); there was also a stillborn son (d. 1908).

On the morning of his death, the Archduke sent a telegram to his children, congratulating Max on his recent exams. The empire: 11 nationalities lived under the dual monarchy of Austria-Hungary, with as many grievances – 50 million people across modern-day Austria, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, parts of Poland and northern Italy. Bosnia-Herzegovina was the most recent addition, having been annexed in 1908. Franz Ferdinand had opposed the annexation, not from any love for the southern Slavs, but as a pointless provocation of them and of Russia. The grievance: The formal independence of Serbia had been recognised at the Congress of Berlin in 1878. Bosnian Serbs dreamt of joining it in a Greater Serbia. While Franz Ferdinand had no personal liking for the Serbs, he was not hostile to them: in fact he was thought to be a ‘federalist’ who supported giving more autonomy to Slavic lands.

This alarmed the Serbs, who foresaw the creation of a third crown in the Austro-Hungarian empire with Zagreb the possible capital – if that happened the chances of creating Greater Serbia would vanish. The targeting of the Archduke thus exemplified one abiding strand in the logic of terrorist movements, namely that reformers and moderates are more to be feared than outright enemies and hardliners. Christopher Clark The martyr: Bogdan Žerajić, a 22-year-old Serb medical student from Herzegovina, resolved to kill Emperor Franz Joseph at the opening of a new parliament in Sarajevo in June 1910. In the event, he fired at Marijan Varešanin, the governor of the province, missed, then killed himself with his final bullet. Vladimir Gaćinović, a driving force behind the liberation movement Mlada Bosna – Young Bosnia – wrote a pamphlet celebrating Žerajić and made a hero of him; his grave became a shrine. Among those inspired by his memory was Gavrilo Princip. I often spent whole nights there, thinking about our situation, about our miserable conditions...

and so it was that I resolved to carry out the assassination. Gavrilo Princip, the eventual assassin, explains at his trial how he was drawn to Žerajić’s grave The Black Hand: The annexation of 1908 helped radicalise Serb nationalist groups. On March 3 1911, in a Belgrade apartment, Ujedinjenje ili smrt! – Union or Death! – was formed, the secret society that came to be known as the ‘Black Hand’. Gen Potiorek and Dragutin Dimitrijevic - 'Apis' The plot: Just as they were intended to be, the details of the plot are difficult to nail down. The prime mover was Dragutin Dimitrijević, nicknamed ‘Apis’ (after the Egyptian bull god), 36-year-old head of Serbian military intelligence. In May 1903, he had led Serbian officers in overthrowing King Alexander I and his wife Queen Draga, who were murdered. The conspirators installed Peter I as the new king.

Apis was present at the founding meeting of the Black Hand in 1911, as was his co-conspirator from 1903, Vojislav Tankosić, who was one of the handlers of the Sarajevo assassins. Meanwhile Gaćinović, who had joined the Black Hand in 1912, instigated a plot to kill Gen Oscar Potiorek, governor of Bosnia-Herzegovina, in January 1914, but the would-be assassins' nerve failed. Planning now focused on the Archduke's visit to Sarajevo on June 28, rumours of which had circulated as early as autumn 1913. The assassins: The three principal recruits were radicalised in the cafes of Belgrade by the Black Hand. Trifko Grabež, Nedeljko Čabrinović and Gavrilo Princip Trifko Grabež, 19, the son of an Orthodox priest in Pale, came to the city for his schooling. Nedeljko Čabrinović, 19, who had left school at 14, went to Belgrade and found work with a printer.

Gavrilo Princip, 19, left Sarajevo in May 1912 for Belgrade after being expelled from school (where he had been with Grabež). He volunteered to join Serbian guerrillas fighting Ottoman Turks in the First Balkan War but was rejected as too weak and sickly. Princip’s interest extended beyond merely the Serb cause to the freedom of all southern Slavs. 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 at his trial Milan Ciganović, a Black Hand member and employee of Serbian state railways, was their handler; he reported to Tankosić who in turn reported to Apis. On May 27, Tankosić gave Princip and Čabrinović four Browning pistols and six small grenade-sized bombs from the Serbian State Arsenal, as well as cyanide powder with which to kill themselves after the assassination. Čabrinović was smuggled into Bosnia on May 30, Princip and Grabež followed on May 31.

The pistols used by the assassins, now in a museum in Vienna They were joined in Sarajevo by a four-man cell recruited by Danilo Ilić, a Black Hand member aged 23. He had trained as a schoolteacher, and worked in Sarajevo as a proof-reader and the editor of a local paper. His recruits were: Muhamed Mehmedbašić, 28, a Muslim carpenter from Herzegovina, who had been involved in the botched plan to kill Potiorek earlier in the year. Cvjetko Popović, 18, was a school pupil in Sarajevo (he died in the city in 1980) Vaso Čubrilović, 17, was also at school in Sarajevo and a member of Mlada Bosna, Young Bosnia. The warnings: Serbian prime minister Nikola Pašić knew of the plot. If he did nothing and it succeeded, the Black Hand’s close relationship to the government would almost certainly be exposed; but an overt warning to Austria-Hungary would mark him as a traitor to many Serbs.

So a veiled warning was sent to Vienna, via Dr Leon von Bilinski. the Austrian minister of finance, who was told that if Franz Ferdinand were to go to Sarajevo, ‘Some young Serb might put a live rather than a blank cartridge in his gun and fire it’. Bilinski rather missed the point: ‘Let us hope nothing does happen,’ he replied cheerfully. The fateful day: Sunday June 28 1914 was St Vitus’s Day, the anniversary of the Battle of Kosovo on the ‘Field of Blackbirds’ in 1389, in which the Ottomans annihilated the Serbs. It remained a day of profound significance to all Serb nationalists. It was also the 14th wedding anniversary of Franz Ferdinand and Sophie, a reminder of the day on which he had had to sign the Oath of Renunciation confirming that their children could not succeed to the imperial throne. The day before had been cold and wet but the morning of June 28 was sunny. The couple had been staying outside Sarajevo at Ilidze for three days.

So relaxed were they that they had come into Sarajevo two days before for a shopping trip, during which they were shadowed by Princip. You are wrong after all... Everywhere we have gone here, we have been treated with so much friendliness – and by every last Serb, too – with so much cordiality and warmth that we are very happy about it The Duchess to Dr Josip Sunaric, Bosnian Croat leader, the night before the assassination The Archduke and the Countess arrive in Sarajevo by train The couple were to drive in the second of a six-car motorcade from the railway station along the river to the City Hall. Danic and the six other would-be assassins were stationed along the route. The car: a 32-horsepower, four-cylinder, open-topped Double Phaeton built in 1910 by the Viennese firm of Gräf & Sift. The numberplate was A III 118 – in which those who believe such things can see a portent of the eventual Armistice date in 1918.

The Archduke's car is now in a museum in Vienna Franz Ferdinand and Sophie travelled with Gen Oscar Potiorek, the governor of Bosnia. Next to the driver in the front was Count Franz von Harrach, in charge of their security. The royal party in the car He wore: the dress uniform of a cavalry general – blue tunic, gold collar with three silver stars, black trousers with red stripe and a helmet with green peacock feathers. She wore: white hat and veil, a long white silk dress with red and white fabric roses tucked into a red sash, and an ermine stole on her shoulders. The first attempt: Mehmedbašić was the first of the young assassination team to be passed by the motorcade. As the Archduke’s car neared, he was about to throw his bomb but panicked. Čabrinović, who was standing by river, was the first to act. He primed his bomb and threw it. The driver saw it coming and accelerated. It exploded beneath the car travelling behind the Archduke’s, the third in the motorcade, injuring several officers. A small splinter cut Sophie’s cheek.

Čabrinović swallowed his cyanide powder and jumped into the shallow waters of the river Miljacka. The poison didn’t work and he was arrested. Come on, that fellow is clearly insane, let us proceed with our programme. Franz Ferdinand reacts to the bomb The remaining assassins lost their nerve. By the time the motorcade passed Princip it was moving too fast for him to shoot. Knowing that the party would return from City Hall later, he moved across to the right-hand side of Franz Joseph Street. I didn’t pull out the revolver because I saw that the Duchess was there. I felt sorry for her Vaso Čubrilović The pause: At City Hall, the mayor of Sarajevo, Fehim Effendi Curcic, who had been in the first car, began a nervous speech of welcome. Franz Ferdinand interrupted, furiously: ‘I come here as your guest and you people greet me with bombs!’ The mayor was allowed to continue, then the Archduke spoke, the paper he held bearing the bloodstains of one of the officers in the third car.

Having gathered himself, he praised the cheers of the people of Sarajevo, which he took to be an expression of relief at the failure of the assassination. The couple leave City Hall The change of plan: The motorcade was to have returned along Appel Quay and turned right into Franz Joseph Street, heading for the National Museum. But now the museum visit was cancelled; the route would be straight back back down Appel Quay. Franz Ferdinand wanted to visit Potiorek’s wounded adjutant in hospital. Originally, Sophie was to have gone to the governor’s palace while her husband went to the museum, but now she said she wished to accompany him. No one told the drivers of the change of plan, so when the lead car in the motorcade turned right into Franz Joseph Street, the Archduke’s driver followed. Potiorek yelled that this was the wrong the way. The car was stopped and – without a reverse gear – it had to be pushed backwards. The finale: Princip had been standing outside Moritz Schiller’s cafe on Franz Joseph Street. Now he ran forward, his pistol drawn. He paused on seeing the Duchess but fired twice at point-blank range.

Whether he was lucky or whether his firearms training in Belgrade had paid off, both bullets hit their targets. The first went through the door of the car and hit Sophie in the abdomen; the second hit Franz Ferdinand in the neck. Harrach, aware of the continuing threat, had been travelling on the running board. Now he saw the Duchess slump across her husband, surely aware that both were dying, and heard the Archduke’s beseeching words to her: Sopherl! Sopherl! Sterbe nicht! Bleibe am Leben für unsere Kinde! – Sophie, Sophie, don’t die, stay alive for our children! As Princip prepared to kill himself his gun was knocked from his hands, as well as his packet of cyanide, as the crowd swarmed around him, kicking and punching; he was saved from probable death by his arrest. Čabrinović arrested. Above, Princip after his capture Franz Ferdinand and Sophie were rushed to the Konak palace. Shortly after 11am both were dead. Franz Ferdinand and Sophie lying in state The reaction: The next morning, The Daily Telegraph began its leading article: 'A dark cloud of Fate seems to overhang the fortunes of the House of Habsburg...

The circumstances are so peculiar that it is very difficult to understand the reasons for the crime or the exact motives of the murderer... His death is, we believe, a serious loss to Europe at large, as well as to Austria-Hungary herself... At a period when the world suffers from a lack of great personalities, the death of a man so strong and self-reliant as the Archduke Franz Ferdinand is a real disaster, of which it is difficult to overestimate the importance.' The paper reported that news of the deaths was relayed to the aged emperor Franz Joseph at Ischl. 'I am spared nothing,' he is said to have murmured on hearing of the assassinations. George V and Queen Mary were told the news by telegram from the British embassy in Vienna. They expressed their deep distress by return telegram. It was announced that the English Court would go into mourning for a week and a State Ball was cancelled. Kaiser Wilhelm II was in Kiel inspecting German and British warships after the reopening of the canal. It was reported that at 5pm all the ships in the harbour hoisted the Austro-Hungarian flag at half mast, including the British warships.

Among German newspapers, the Berliner Tageblatt anticipated that 'the already sufficiently tense relationships of Austria-Hungary will undoubtedly be aggravated, even if no great Serbian conspiracy is demonstrable, and only Austrian subjects of Serbian nationality participated in the crime'. In France, the Journal des Debats recognised that the Archduke's death was 'a European event of the highest political importance. The character of the late Archduke, the intentions that were ascribed to him, and his political and religious tendencies, caused it to be generally believed that his accession to power in the Dual Monarchy would be the signal of far-reaching changes'. Follow Telegraph stories of the unfolding crisis from 1914 day by day on Twitter – @TeleArchive Read the paper of 100 years ago at telegraph.co.uk/ww1archive The Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand The Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand The Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand The Murder That Started World War I Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife, Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg, 1914.

(Photo by The Print Collector/Print Collector/Getty Images) By Tarkan Rosenberg, Contributing Writer Updated July 30, 2016. On the morning of June 28, 1914, a 19-year-old Bosnian nationalist named Gavrilo Princip shot and killed Sophie and Franz Ferdinand, the future heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary (the second-largest empire in Europe) in the Bosnian capital of Sarajevo. Gavrilo Princip, a simple postman’s son, probably didn’t realize at the time that by firing those three fateful shots, he was starting a chain reaction that would lead directly to the start of World War I . A Multinational Empire In the summer of 1914, the by now 47-year-old Austro-Hungarian Empire stretched from the Austrian Alps in the west to the Russian border in the east and reached far into the Balkans to the south ( map ). It was the second-largest European nation next to Russia and boasted a multi-ethnic population made up of at least ten different nationalities.

These included Austrian Germans, Hungarians, Czechs, Slovaks, Poles, Romanians, Italians, Croats and Bosnians among others. continue reading below our video 4 Tips for Improving Test Performance But the empire was far from united. Its various ethnic groups and nationalities were constantly competing for control in a state that was predominantly ruled by the Austrian-German Habsburg family and the Hungarian nationals—both of whom resisted sharing the majority of their power and influence with the rest of the empire’s diverse population. For many of those outside the German-Hungarian ruling class, the empire represented nothing more than an undemocratic, repressive regime occupying their traditional homelands. Nationalistic sentiments and struggles for autonomy often resulted in public riots and clashes with the ruling authorities such as in Vienna in 1905 and in Budapest in 1912. The Austro-Hungarians responded harshly to incidents of unrest, sending in troops to keep the peace and suspending local parliaments. Nevertheless, by 1914 unrest was a constant in almost every part of the realm.

Franz Josef and Franz Ferdinand: A Tense Relationship By 1914, Emperor Franz Josef —a member of the long-standing royal House of Habsburg—had ruled Austria (called Austria-Hungary from 1867) for nearly 66 years. As a monarch, Franz Josef was a staunch traditionalist and remained so well into the later years of his reign, despite the many great changes that had led to the weakening of monarchical power in other parts of Europe. He resisted all notions of political reform and viewed himself as the last of the old-school European monarchs. Emperor Franz Josef fathered two children. The first, however, died in infancy and the second committed suicide in 1889. By right of succession, the emperor’s nephew, Franz Ferdinand , became next in line to rule Austria-Hungary. The uncle and the nephew often clashed over differences in approach to ruling the vast empire. Franz Ferdinand had little patience for the ostentatious pomp of the ruling Habsburg class. Nor did he agree with his uncle’s harsh stance towards the rights and autonomy of the empire’s various national groups.

He felt the old system, which allowed ethnic Germans and ethnic Hungarians to dominate, could not last. Franz Ferdinand believed the best way to regain the population’s loyalty was to make concessions towards the Slavs and other ethnicities by allowing them greater sovereignty and influence over the governance of the empire. He envisioned the eventual emergence of a type of “United States of Greater Austria,” with the empire’s many nationalities sharing equally in its administration. He believed strongly that this was the only way to keep the empire together and to secure his own future as its ruler. The result of these disagreements was that the emperor had little love for his nephew and bristled at the thought of Franz Ferdinand’s future ascension to the throne. The tension between them grew even stronger when, in 1900, Franz Ferdinand took as his wife the Countess Sophie Chotek . Franz Josef did not consider Sophie to be an appropriate future empress as she was not directly descended from royal, imperial blood. Serbia: The "Great Hope" of the Slavs In 1914, Serbia was one of the few independent Slavic states in Europe, having gained its autonomy piecemeal throughout the previous century after hundreds of years of Ottoman rule.

The majority of Serbs were staunch nationalists and the kingdom saw itself as the great hope for the sovereignty of Slavic peoples in the Balkans. The great dream of Serbian nationalists was the unification of Slavic peoples into a single sovereign state. The Ottoman, Austro-Hungarian, and Russian empires, however, were perpetually struggling for control and influence over the Balkans and Serbs felt under constant threat from their powerful neighbors. Austria-Hungary, in particular, posed a threat due to its close proximity to Serbia’s northern border. The situation was exasperated by the fact that pro-Austrian monarchs—with close ties to the Habsburgs—had ruled Serbia since the late 19th century . The last of these monarchs, King Alexander I, was deposed and executed in 1903 by a clandestine society comprised of nationalistic Serbian army officers known as the Black Hand . It was this same group that would come to help plan and support the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand eleven years later.

Dragutin Dimitrijević and the Black Hand The aim of the Black Hand was the unification of all southern Slavic peoples into the single Slavic nation-state of Yugoslavia—with Serbia as its leading member— and to protect those Slavs and Serbs still living under Austro-Hungarian rule by any means necessary. The group relished in the ethnic and nationalistic strife that had overtaken Austria-Hungary and sought to stoke the flames of its decline. Anything that was potentially bad for its powerful northern neighbor was seen as potentially good for Serbia. The high-ranking, Serbian, military positions of its founding members put the group in a unique position to carry out clandestine operations deep within Austria-Hungary itself. This included army colonel Dragutin Dimitrijević, who would later become the head of Serbian military intelligence and leader of the Black Hand. The Black Hand frequently sent spies into Austria-Hungary to commit acts of sabotage or to foment discontent amongst Slavic peoples inside the empire. Their various anti-Austrian propaganda campaigns were designed, especially, to attract and recruit angry and restless Slavic youths with strong nationalistic sentiments.

One of these youths—a Bosnian, and a member of the Black Hand-backed youth movement known as Young Bosnia—would personally carry out the murders of Franz Ferdinand and his wife, Sophie, and thus help to unleash the biggest crisis ever to face Europe and the world to that point. Gavrilo Princip and Young Bosnia Gavrilo Princip was born and raised in the countryside of Bosnia-Herzegovina, which had been annexed by Austria-Hungary in 1908 as a means to preempt Ottoman expansion into the region and to thwart Serbia’s aims for a greater Yugoslavia . Like many of the Slavic peoples living under Austro-Hungarian rule, Bosnians dreamed of the day when they would gain their independence and join a larger Slavic union alongside Serbia. Princip, a young nationalist, left for Serbia in 1912 to continue the studies he had undertaken in Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia-Herzegovina. While there, he fell in with a group of fellow nationalist Bosnian youths calling themselves Young Bosnia. The young men in Young Bosnia would sit long hours together and discuss their ideas for bringing about change for Balkan Slavs.

They agreed that violent, terroristic methods would help to bring about a speedy demise of the Habsburg rulers and ensure the eventual sovereignty of their native homeland. When, in the spring of 1914, they learned of Archduke Franz Ferdinand’s visit to Sarajevo that June, they decided he would be a perfect target for assassination. But they would need the help of a highly organized group like the Black Hand to pull off their plan. A Plan Is Hatched The Young Bosnians’ plan to do away with the archduke eventually reached the ears of Black Hand leader Dragutin Dimitrijević , the architect of the 1903 overthrow of Serbia’s king and by now chief of Serbian military intelligence. Dimitrijević had been made aware of Princip and his friends by a subordinate officer and fellow Black Hand member who had complained of being pestered by a group of Bosnian youths bent on killing Franz Ferdinand. By all accounts, Dimitrijević very casually agreed to help the young men; although secretly, he may have received Princip and his friends as a blessing.

The official reason given for the archduke’s visit was to observe Austro-Hungarian military exercises outside the city, as the emperor had appointed him inspector general of the armed forces the previous year. Dimitrijević, however, felt sure the visit was nothing more than a smokescreen for a coming Austro-Hungarian invasion of Serbia, though no evidence exists to suggest such an invasion was ever planned. Furthermore, Dimitrijević saw a golden opportunity to do away with a future ruler who could seriously undermine Slavic nationalistic interests, were he ever to be allowed to ascend to the throne. The Serbian nationalists knew well of Franz Ferdinand’s ideas for political reform and feared that any concessions made by Austria-Hungary towards the empire’s Slavic population could potentially undermine Serbian attempts at fomenting discontent and inciting Slavic nationalists to rise up against their Habsburg rulers. A plan was devised to send Princip, along with Young Bosnian members Nedjelko Čabrinović and Trifko Grabež, to Sarajevo, where they were to meet up with six other conspirators and carry out the assassination of the archduke.

Dimitrijević, fearing the assassins’ inevitable capture and questioning, instructed the men to swallow cyanide capsules and commit suicide immediately after the attack. No one was to be allowed to learn who had authorized the murders. Concerns Over Safety Initially, Franz Ferdinand never intended to visit Sarajevo itself; he was to keep himself outside the city for the task of observing military exercises. To this day it is unclear why he chose to visit the city, which was a hotbed of Bosnian nationalism and thus a very hostile environment for any visiting Habsburg. One account suggests that Bosnia’s governor-general, Oskar Potiorek—who may have been seeking a political boost at Franz Ferdinand’s expense— urged the archduke to pay the city an official, all day visit. Many in the archduke’s entourage, however, protested out of fear for the archduke’s safety. What Bardolff and the rest of the archduke’s entourage did not know was that June 28 was a Serb national holiday— a day that represented Serbia’s historical struggle against foreign invaders.

After much debate and negotiation, the archduke finally bent to Potiorek’s wishes and agreed to visit the city on June 28, 1914, but only in an unofficial capacity and for only a few hours in the morning. Getting Into Position Gavrilo Princip and his co-conspirators arrived in Bosnia sometime in early June. They had been ushered across the border from Serbia by a network of Black Hand operatives, who provided them with faked documents stating the three men were customs officials and thus entitled to free passage. Once inside Bosnia, they met up with six other conspirators and made their way toward Sarajevo, arriving in the city sometime around June 25. There they stayed in various hostels and even lodged with family to await archduke’s visit three days later. Franz Ferdinand and his wife, Sophie, arrived in Sarajevo sometime before ten in the morning of June 28. After a short welcoming ceremony at the train station, the couple was ushered into a 1910 Gräf & Stift touring car and, along with a small procession of other cars carrying members of their entourage, made their way to the Town Hall for an official reception.

It was a sunny day and the car’s canvas top had been taken down to allow for the crowds to better see the visitors. A map of the archduke’s route had been published in the newspapers prior to his visit, so spectators would know where to stand in order to catch a glimpse of the couple as they rode by. The procession was to move down the Appel Quay along the northern bank of the Miljacka River. Princip and his six co-conspirators had also obtained the route from the newspapers. That morning, after receiving their weapons and their instructions from a local Black Hand operative, they split up and positioned themselves at strategic points along the riverbank. Muhamed Mehmedbašić and Nedeljko Čabrinović mingled with the crowds and positioned themselves near the Cumurja Bridge where they would be the first of the conspirators to see the procession going by. Vaso Čubrilović and Cvjetko Popović positioned themselves further up the Appel Quay. Gavrilo Princip and Trifko Grabež stood near the Lateiner Bridge toward the center of the route while Danilo Ilić moved about trying to find a good position.

A Tossed Bomb Mehmedbašić would be the first to see the car appear; however, as it approached, he froze with fear and was unable to take action. Čabrinović, on the other hand, acted without hesitation. He pulled a bomb from his pocket, struck the detonator against a lamp post, and tossed it at the archduke’s car. The car’s driver, Leopold Loyka, noticed the object flying towards them and hit the accelerator. The bomb landed behind the car where it exploded, causing debris to fly and nearby shop windows to shatter. About 20 onlookers were injured. The archduke and his wife were safe, however, save for a small scratch on Sophie’s neck caused by flying debris from the explosion. Immediately after throwing the bomb, Čabrinović swallowed his vial of cyanide and jumped over a railing down into the riverbed. The cyanide, however, failed to work and Čabrinović was caught by a group of policemen and dragged away. The Appel Quay had erupted into chaos by now and the archduke had ordered the driver to stop so that the injured parties could be attended to.

Once satisfied that nobody was seriously injured, he ordered the procession to continue to the Town Hall. The other conspirators along the route had by now received news of Čabrinović’s failed attempt and most of them, probably out of fear, decided to leave the scene. Princip and Grabež, however, remained. The procession continued on to the Town Hall, where Sarajevo’s mayor launched into his welcoming speech as if nothing had happened. The archduke immediately interrupted and admonished him, outraged at the bombing attempt that had put him and his wife in such danger and questioned the apparent lapse in security. The archduke’s wife, Sophie, gently urged her husband to calm down. The mayor was allowed to continue his speech in what was later described by witnesses as a bizarre and otherworldly spectacle. Despite reassurances from Potiorek that the danger had passed, the archduke insisted on abandoning the day’s remaining schedule; he wanted to visit the hospital to check on the wounded. Some discussion on the safest way to proceed to the hospital ensued and it was decided that quickest way would be to go by the same route.

The Assassination Franz Ferdinand’s car sped down the Appel Quay, where the crowds had thinned out by now. The driver, Leopold Loyka, seemed to have been unaware of the change of plans. He turned left at the Lateiner Bridge toward Franz Josef Strasse as if to proceed to the National Museum, which the Archduke had planned to visit next prior to the assassination attempt. The car drove past a delicatessen where Gavrilo Princip had bought a sandwich. He had resigned himself to the fact that the plot was a failure and that the archduke’s return route would have been altered by now. Somebody yelled out to the driver that he had made a mistake and should have kept going along the Appel Quay to the hospital. Loyka stopped the vehicle and attempted to reverse as Princip emerged from the delicatessen and noticed, to his great surprise, the archduke and his wife only a few feet from him. He pulled out his pistol and fired. Witnesses would later say they heard three shots. Princip was immediately seized and beaten by bystanders and the gun wrested from his hand.

He managed to swallow his cyanide before being tackled to the ground but it, too, failed to work. Count Franz Harrach, the owner of the Gräf & Stift car that was carrying the royal couple, heard Sophie cry out to her husband, “What has happened to you?” before she appeared to faint and slump over in her seat.1 Harrach then noticed that blood was trickling from the archduke’s mouth and ordered the driver to drive to the Hotel Konak—where the royal couple was supposed to stay during their visit—as quickly as possible. The archduke was still alive but barely audible as he continually muttered, “It is nothing.” Sophie had completely lost consciousness. The archduke, too, eventually fell silent. The Couple’s Wounds Upon arriving at the Konak, the Archduke and his wife were carried up to their suite and attended to by regimental surgeon Eduard Bayer. The archduke’s coat was removed to reveal a wound in his neck just above the collarbone. Blood was gurgling from his mouth. After a few moments it was determined that Franz Ferdinand had died from his wound.

“His Highness’s suffering is over,” the surgeon announced.2 Sophie had been laid out on a bed in the next room. Everyone still assumed she had simply fainted but when her mistress removed her clothes she discovered blood and a bullet wound in her lower right abdomen. She had already been dead by the time they had reached the Konak. Aftermath The assassination sent shockwaves throughout Europe. Austro-Hungarian officials discovered the Serbian roots of the plot and declared war on Serbia on July 28, 1914 -- exactly one month after the assassination. Fearing reprisals from Russia, which had been a strong ally of Serbia, Austria-Hungary now sought to activate its alliance with Germany in an attempt to scare the Russians out of taking action. Germany, in turn, sent Russia an ultimatum to stop mobilizing, which Russia ignored. The two powers—Russia and Germany—declared war on each other on August 1, 1914. Britain and France would soon enter the conflict on the side of Russia. Old alliances, which had been dormant since the 19th century, had suddenly created a dangerous situation across the continent.

The war that ensued, World War I , would last four years and claim the lives of millions. Gavrilo Princip never lived to see the end of the conflict he helped to unleash. After a lengthy trial, he was sentenced to 20 years in prison (he avoided the death penalty due to his young age). While in prison, he contracted tuberculosis and died there on April 28, 1918. 1 Greg King and Sue Woolmans, The Assassination of the Archduke (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2013), 207. 2 King and Woolmans, 208-209. World War I for Kids: Assassination of Archduke Ferdinand World War I Assassination of Archduke Ferdinand The assassination of Austria's Archduke Ferdinand set into motion a series of international events that led to World War I. This one event is widely considered the most important event in leading up to war. Gavrilo Princip killing Archduke Francis Ferdinand of Austria in Sarajevo by Achille Beltrame The Archduke and his wife were shot while riding in their car Who was Archduke Ferdinand?

Archduke Franz Ferdinand was born in the city of Graz on December 18, 1863. After his cousin and father died, he became the heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary. His uncle, Franz Joseph, was the current emperor of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire. He was married to Sophie, the Duchess of Hohenberg. Leading up to the Assassination In the southern portion of Austria-Hungary was a region called Bosnia. Many of the Bosnians wanted to have their own country and not be under the rule of Austria-Hungary. The country of Serbia, just south of the Austria-Hungary border also wanted the freedom of the Bosnians. Serbia was an ally with the powerful Russian Empire and Austria-Hungary was allied with Germany. When Archduke Ferdinand announced his trip to Sarajevo, Bosnian nationalists (people who wanted Bosnia to be its own country) saw their opportunity to strike at the Austrian Empire. With help from the neighboring country of Serbia , assassins were recruited and trained to kill the Archduke as he traveled through the streets of Sarajevo. These assassins were members of a terrorist group called the Black Hand.

The Assassination On June 28, 1914 Franz Ferdinand and his wife were in the third car of a motorcade traveling through Sarajevo to the Town Hall. The Black Hand had several assassins positioned along the route. On the way to the Town Hall, the first assassination attempt occurred. A man named Nedeljko Cabrinovic threw a bomb into the car with the Archduke. However, the bombed bounced off the car and landed under the next car in the motorcade. The car with the Archduke was able to speed away and make it safely to the Town Hall. The assassins did not give up, however. On the return trip, the motorcade took a wrong turn. When the driver began to back up, another assassin named Gavrilo Princip happened to be right next to the car. He took advantage of this opportunity and began firing at the Archduke. He fired twice, hitting the Archduke once and his wife Sophie. The crowd jumped on Princip and he was arrested by the police. At the same time the car sped to the Governor's residence to get medical help. Unfortunately, Sofie was dead before they arrived and the Archduke died a few minutes later.

Results and Why it Started WW1 The Austria-Hungary government saw the assassination as a direct attack on the country. They believed that the Serbians had helped the Bosnian terrorists in the attack. They made harsh demands on the Serbians which the Serbians rejected. At the same time, Russia began to mobilize their army to help protect Serbia. When Serbia rejected the demands, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia. A few days later, Germany declared war on Russia to help its ally Austria-Hungary. Then France began to mobilize to help its ally Russia, and Germany followed by declaring war on France. World War I had begun. Interesting Facts about the Assassination of Archduke Ferdinand When Ferdinand saw that his wife was shot he exclaimed "Sophie! Don't die! Stay alive for the children!" Both Princip and Cabrinovic tried to kill themselves with cyanide pills, but the pills only made them very sick. Between the bomb and the shooting, Ferdinand attended a ceremony given by the Major of Sarajevo at City Hall. The Serbian Prime Minister learned of the assassination attempt prior to the attack.

He tried to warn the Austrians, but his warning was so vague that the Austrians did not understand how real the threat was. Activities Take a ten question quiz about this page. Learn More about World War I: Overview: WWI in historic newspapers: The assassination of Franz Ferdinand – Europeana Newspapers WWI in historic newspapers: The assassination of Franz Ferdinand Posted on by libereurope — 6 Comments ↓ This week one hundred years ago, on 28th of June 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria was assassinated. This event triggered the outbreak of WWI one month later. How did European newspapers of the time cover this crucial event and the political opinions? Did the news travel fast? Europeana Newspapers has gathered historic newspaper material to illustrate how different European newspapers reported on this crucial event. This week we’ll publish a series of three articles, each covering one important event in WWI. Today we start with the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria.

On 28 June 1914 Archduke Franz-Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, and his wife, the Duchess of Hohenberg, were murdered in Sarajevo by the Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip. For about one century this dramatic event is known as the triggering event of World War One. Indeed, the exacerbation of nationalistic tensions in Central and Balkan Europe, an Austro-Hungarian declining monarchy and the play of strategic and diplomatic alliances precipitated within a month the European continent into war. Yet what might be obvious today was not so much at that time and the announcement of this assassination in the newspapers of the time throughout Europe does not reflect or foresee the gravity of the situation. When looking back on European newspapers of the time, two main common themes can be distinguished: A murder story full of twists A family tragedy A murder story full of twists No source allows us to know with certainty what happened. The trial minutes inform us nevertheless that a conspiracy took place. The seven conspirators had no experience in the use of weapons, and it is only by an extraordinary series of coincidences that they succeeded.

On the morning of 28 June 1914, the Archduke’s parade of six cars passed a first conspirator who tried to shoot from the window of an upper floor, but renounced as he could not get a clear shot. A second member did not attempt anything since he was fearful of harming the Duchess. A third member, Nedeljko Čabrinović, threw a bomb on the car of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, but in his haste, he did not wait the recommended eight seconds to throw it. It seems that the prince had time to take the bomb in his hand and to throw it out of his car. The explosion nevertheless destroyed the next car, seriously injuring its passengers, a policeman and several people in the crowd. Čabrinović tried to kill himself by swallowing a cyanide pill and jumping into the river Miljacka. As the cyanide pill he had taken was old or too low dosed and the tide of river was very low, he failed in his attempt and was arrested. Later in the morning, the Archduke decided to go to the hospital to visit the victims of the bomb. Gavrilo Princip saw his car passing near Latin Bridge, caught it and fired twice.

The first bullet pierced the side of the car and reached the Duchess of Hohenberg in the abdomen, the second bullet struck the Archduke in the neck. Both died of their wounds fifteen minutes later. Like Čabrinović, Princip attempted suicide and failed. Extrablatt (extra edition) 29 June 1914: (Collection of the National Library of Austria) Montags Jounal, 29 June 1914 (Collection of The National Library of Austria) The Austrian newspapers were the first ones to cover the event, as to be expected. The Montags Journal reported Der Thronfolger von Österreich ermordet! Seine Gemahlin die Herzogin von Hohenberg ermordet! (The heir to the throne of Austria murdered! His wife the duchess of Hohenberg murdered!). On this day, 29th of June, an extra edition was printed in which the assassination of the heirs to the Austrian throne was extensively covered.

In the days following other Austrian newspapers covered the assassination and the victims in all detail; such as Das Interessante Blatt ( frontpage , page 3 , page 5 ) and Wiener Bilder ( frontpage and page 5 ). Bozner Zeitung, 29 June 1914, page 2, Franz Ferdinand, his wife and children (Collection Friedrich Tessmann Library) The Bozner Zeitung of Monday 29 June 1914 featured the news on its frontpage on and covers it from page 1 to 5. Entitled Erzherzog Franz Ferdinand und Herzogin von Hohenberg ermordet (Archduke Franz Ferdinand and Duchess of Hohenberg murdered), the article conveys the course of the two attacks reporting on the happy ending of the first bomb assassination and the tumultuous ovation from the people that expressed the joy of the failed attempt. It also reports on the continuation of the journey, on the second, and this time successful, attack carried out. It gives details too on the assassin, the 19 years old Princip, who named the deed “revenge of the oppressed of Serbia”.

The attack is strongly condemned by the magazine and described as “one of the most dreadful prince-murders of late”. Algemeen Handelsblad, 29 Juni 1914 (Collection National Library of the Netherlands) Nieuwsblad van het Noorden, 30 June 1914 (Collection National Library of the Netherlands) Telegraph messages of the murder of Franz Ferdinand and his wife started arriving in the Netherlands on Monday 29 June 1914. Most newspapers include a small message somewhere in the paper on the murder. Like the Algemeen Handelsblad, in which a small message on the frontpage in the left column below is featured with the title De moord op het vorstenpaar (Murder on the royal couple). The next day, on Tuesday 30 June, full reports have reached the country including detailed statements of the eyewitnesses, which are no doubt copied from local Bosnian papers. All newspapers open with the full story of the murder, like the Nieuwsblad van het Noorden.

Sabah, 1 July 1914 (National Library of Turkey) On 1 July 1914, the Turkish newspapers Sabah also gives details of what is called a “tragedy” providing the murderers’ confession and details of the investigation: “…Except the two perpetrators arrested yesterday, other men are arrested. A joint movement is suspected ». A family tragedy Being a public figure by birth and because of his function as an Emperor, Franz Joseph also drew the attention of the media with his marriage to Duchess Elisabeth of Bavaria better known as Sissi. His family life had so far already been filled with several dramas. His first daughter Sophie died as an infant and his only son, Crown Prince Rudolf, died by suicide in 1889. His wife was stabbed to death by an Italian anarchist in 1898 while on a visit to Geneva. It is said that Franz Joseph never fully recovered from the loss. La Croix, 30 June 1914 (Collection National Library of France) Le petit journal, 12 July 1914 (Collection National Library France) In French newspapers, the event is covered as mondain/society news.

Rare are the journalists who glimpsed the military outcome that would bring Europe into war. In less than four days, the news had left newspapers frontpage. For example, La Croix from 30 June 1914 focuses on the tragic destiny of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The newspaper fears that this assassination will weaken the catholic monarchy with whom it hoped for reconciliation with France against the German Empire. La Croix pictures Emperor Franz Joseph as a martyr. On 12 July 2014, Le Petit Journal puts on its frontpage an illustration of the Emperor grieving on his throne and surrounded by his deceased family members. The headline reads La tristesse du vieil empereur. Rien ne lui aura été épargné sur cette terre! (The sadness of the old emperor. He has been spared nothing on this Earth!).

Glos Slaski, 2 July 1914 (Collection National Library Poland) Bozner Zeitung, 3 July 1914 (Collection Friedrich Tessmann Library) Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia - Jul 28, 1914 - HISTORY.com Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia Share this: Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia Author Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia URL Publisher A+E Networks On July 28, 1914, one month to the day after Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife were killed by a Serbian nationalist in Sarajevo, Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia, effectively beginning the First World War. Threatened by Serbian ambition in the tumultuous Balkans region of Europe, Austria-Hungary determined that the proper response to the assassinations was to prepare for a possible military invasion of Serbia.

After securing the unconditional support of its powerful ally, Germany, Austria-Hungary presented Serbia with a rigid ultimatum on July 23, 1914, demanding, among other things, that all anti-Austrian propaganda within Serbia be suppressed, and that Austria-Hungary be allowed to conduct its own investigation into the archduke’s killing. Though Serbia effectively accepted all of Austria’s demands except for one, the Austrian government broke diplomatic relations with the other country on July 25 and went ahead with military preparedness measures. Meanwhile, alerted to the impending crisis, Russia—Serbia’s own mighty supporter in the Balkans—began its own initial steps towards military mobilization against Austria. In the days following the Austrian break in relations with Serbia, the rest of Europe, including Russia’s allies, Britain and France, looked on with trepidation, fearing the imminent outbreak of a Balkans conflict that, if entered into by Russia, threatened to explode into a general European war. The British Foreign Office lobbied its counterparts in Berlin, Paris and Rome with the idea of an international convention aimed at moderating the conflict; the German government, however, was set against this notion, and advised Vienna to go ahead with its plans.

On July 28, 1914, after a decision reached conclusively the day before in response to pressure from Germany for quick action—apart from Kaiser Wilhelm II, who by some accounts still saw the possibility of a peaceful diplomatic resolution to the conflict, but was outmaneuvered by the more hawkish military and governmental leadership of Germany—Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia. In response, Russia formally ordered mobilization in the four military districts facing Galicia, its common front with the Austro-Hungarian Empire. That night, Austrian artillery divisions initiated a brief, ineffectual bombardment of Belgrade across the Danube River. “My darling one and beautiful, everything tends towards catastrophe and collapse,” British naval official Winston Churchill wrote to his wife at midnight on July 29. He was proven right over the next several days. On August 1, after its demands for Russia to halt mobilization met with defiance, Germany declared war on Russia. Russia’s ally, France, ordered its own general mobilization that same day, and on August 3, France and Germany declared war on each other. The German army’s planned invasion of neutral Belgium, announced on August 4, prompted Britain to declare war on Germany.

Thus, in the summer of 1914, the major powers in the Western world—with the exception of the United States and Italy, both of which declared their neutrality, at least for the time being—flung themselves headlong into the First World War. Related Videos What Started World War 1? | Curiosity Aroused Home > Politics > What Started World War 1? What Started World War 1? Quick NotesQ: When did World War 1 Start? Austria – Hungary declared war on Serbia on July 28th, 1914 Q: What started World War 1? How did World War 1 Start? The assassination of Austria – Hungary’s heir of the throne, Archduke Franz Ferdinand sparked a war between Austria – Hungary and Serbia, which caused a number of other countries to get involved due to the treaty alliance system. Q: Why did World War 1 start? Once Austria – Hungary declared war on Serbia, Russia stepped in, causing Germany to step in. France, Britain, Belgium, and many other countries then followed.

Eventually, because Germany was blocking a majority of their commercial shipments, the United States was forced to enter into the war despite President Woodrow Wilson’s statement declaring the United States’ neutrality. An In-Depth Look: What Started World War 1? Gabro Princip as he is arrested shortly after assassinating Prince Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo (Photo credit: Wikipedia) World War 1 was caused by a series of events triggered by Serbia’s response to Austria-Hungary’s demands, and the treaty alliance system that ensured that many other countries would be drawn into the conflict. At the start of World War One, Europe was a powder keg waiting to be lit. As soon as Archduke Franz Ferdinand – the heir of Austria-Hungary’s throne – was assassinated on June 28, 1914, the fuse was lit. Ferdinand’s death happened under the care of the Black Hand, a Serbian nationalist secret society and it caused a series of events culminating into the world’s first ever global war. Common knowledge suggests that the war started all because of the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria but this notion isn’t 100% correct.

Austria-Hungary’s Reaction to the Assassination of Their Heir Surprisingly, the people did not care about the assassination itself. Even the Austrian newspapers reported that it was a general consensus amongst political circles that the assassination was for the best. The emperor Franz Josef expressed his relief because he didn’t like Ferdinand at all. Nobody cared about the assassination itself, but there had been thoughts of a ‘preventative war’ that they wanted to wage against Serbia. This war was meant to be short and sweet but due to the treaty alliance system that was in place, a small conflict turned into one of the bloodiest wars in human history with over 15 million deaths. Austria-Hungary reacted to the death of their heir by taking the opportunity to come down strong on the Serbians to crush the nationalist movement residing in the country and thereby cementing their influence on the Balkans. They now had the support of the German’s who promised that they would aid in a war with Serbia, and possibly Russia if they chose to go into battle. Austria-Hungary did not expect Russia to join in on the war as it was expected to be a small one that would be over fairly quickly.

After waiting three weeks, Austria-Hungary issued Serbia an ultimatum with demands that the assassins be brought to justice. Austria-Hungary issued an ultimatum to Serbia with severe terms hoping that Serbia would deny compliance and they would be able to go into a limited war to reclaim territory on the Balkans. Serbia got the ultimatum and they responded in a positive manner, but changed a few clauses in their response. Austria-Hungary saw this as a reason to go to war. A map of World War 1 participants: Green – Allied powers, Orange – Central Powers, Grey – Neutral (Photo credit: Wikipedia) A series of events occurred due to the existing treaties between different states and groups of nations, which escalated a small clash into the first giant war. This is the sequence of events that led to the ‘Great War’ – a name that had been given to the war before it even started: 1. Austria – Hungary was unsatisfied with the response that Serbia gave them after they received the ultimatum. Their response was almost entirely in compliance with Austria – Hungary’s wishes but a few minor clauses in the response made Austria – Hungary wish to wage battle.

They declared war on Serbia on July 28th, 1914. 2. Russia announced that they were mobilizing an army to Serbia’s defense. Russia was very slow in their process and it took about six weeks to finally get moving. 3. Germany and Austria-Hungary formulated a treaty before they waged war and they declared war on Russia. 4. France was bound to an agreement with Russia and was forced to step in to go to war with Germany. Germany declared war against Belgium and invaded so that they could have easy access to France when they wanted to attack. 5. Britain was an ally of France and due to the existing treaty, declared war against Germany. Germany did not expect that Britain was going to enter into the war because the treaty they had with France was written in loose wording. The two countries weren’t entirely bonded and Britain wasn’t expected to help. However, Britain had a very old treaty with Belgium as well so they decided to enter into the war and wage battle against Germany. 6. Canada, India, Australia, South Africa, and New Zealand entered the war as colonies of Britain. 7. Japan honored its treaty with Britain and they went to war against Germany. 8.

In 1917, the United States decided that they would join the war. Originally, President Woodrow Wilson declared absolute neutrality in a United States policy. Originally, they had not wanted to but German submarines were hindering the United States’ commercial shipping operation. The United States was shipping supplies to their allies. 9. Italy was an ally to both Germany and Austria – Hungary, yet they avoided entering the war in the beginning by crafting a clause that would enable them to wave obligations to both parties. Eventually, they were forced to enter the war on the side of the Allies in May 1915. 1000+ images about ROYALTY :: ARCHDUKE FRANZ FERDINAND OF AUSTRIA on Pinterest | Maria theresa, Emperor and World war Forward Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria with his daughter, Princess Sophie of Hohenberg. He was Archduke of Austria-Este, Austro-Hungarian and Royal Prince of Hungary and of Bohemia, and from 1889 until his death, heir presumptive to the Austro-Hungarian throne. His assassination in Sarajevo precipitated Austria-Hungary's declaration of war against Serbia.

This caused the Central Powers (inc Germany and Austria-Hungary) and allies of Serbia to declare war on each other starting World War I. See More

Question: 28th June, 1914, saw the assassination of Austrian Archduke, Franz Ferdinand, the triggering event of World War 1. In which European city were the Archduke and his wife, did the assassination take place?
Answer: Sarajevo