Assassinations of Arch Duke Franz Ferdinand The Spark that Ignited WWI

On 28 June 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir presumptive to the Austro-Hungarian throne, and his wife, Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg, were shot dead in Sarajevo,

Assassinated by Gavrilo Princip, one of a group of six Bosnian Serb assassins part of the group known as the Black Hands

On the morning of 28 June 1914, Franz Ferdinand and his party proceeded by train from Ilidža Spa to Sarajevo.[16] Governor Oskar Potiorek met the party at Sarajevo station. The motorcade's first stop on the preannounced program was for a brief inspection of a military barracks. According to the program, at 10:00 a.m., the motorcade was to leave the barracks for the town hall by way of the Appel Quay

At 10:10 am,[61] Franz Ferdinand's car approached and Čabrinović threw his bomb. wounded a total of 20 people. Čabrinović swallowed his cyanide pill and jumped into the Miljacka river. suicide attempt failed as the cyanide only induced vomiting, and the Miljacka was only 13 cm deep. Police dragged Čabrinović out of the river, and he was severely beaten by the crowd before being taken into custody. The procession sped away towards the Town Hall leaving the disabled car behind.

Arrived at town hall; read speech drenched in blood for it was in the bombed car Not before he argued with the major about being bombed. Sophia calmed him down. Here they decided to take another route back to the train station stopping to see the injured.

Princip emerged, he saw Franz Ferdinand's open car reversing after having taken the wrong turn as it drove past, near the Latin Bridge. After realizing the mistake, the driver put his foot on the brake, and began to back up. In doing so the engine of the car stalled and the gears locked, giving Princip his opportunity. Princip stepped forward and fired two shots from a distance of about one and a half metres using a Belgian-made 9×17mm

"the first bullet wounded the Archduke in the jugular vein, the second inflicted an abdominal wound on the Duchess He claims he was not aiming for Sophia – he was arrested right after