Part II: Europe on the Brink of War

The date is June 28, 1914 in Sarajevo, then part of Austria-Hungary, but now the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the heir to the throne of the Austro-Hungarian Empire is dead. What triggered it and what were the effects? In this post, you'll find out.

Archduke Franz Ferdinand

What triggered it?

The cause of his death was assassination. The person who assassinated him was a man named Gavrilo Princip. However, I'm going to go back a few hours to a failed assassination attempt by Nedeljko Cabrinovic. He failed to assassinate Franz Ferdinand, and so, he jumped into a 4in deep river supposedly saying "I'm a Serb hero!" Anyway, let's go into the details of the actual assasination. Gavrilo Princip who at this point was pretty pessimistic about the chances of assassinating Franz Ferdinand was eating a sandwich at a local restaurant. Meanwhile, Franz Ferdinand drove by with his wife, and when Gavrilo Princip saw this, he took his gun, went outside, and shot the Archduke and his wife dead.

Gavrilo Princip

What were the effects?

Princip and Cabrinovic were Serbian nationalists. So it was only natural that Austria-Hungary would get into some conflict with Serbia. And they did. Serbia tried everything to avoid getting into a war with Austria, but nothing succeeded and so, on July 28, 1914, a month later, Austria declared war on Serbia.

Author: Avi Goel
Remember to check out Part 1 if you haven't done so already!
Remember to check out Part 3 after Parts 1 and 2!