6 (or 7, the number varies) Bosnian Serb students who were said to have ties to the nationalist group known as the Black Hand saw the published motorcade route and spread themselves out through the route. The Archduke was able to use a private vehicle borrowed from Count Franz von Harrach of the Austrian army transport corps.Įven though the risk of terrorist attacks was thought to be incredibly high, minimal security actions were taken to protect the couple. The reason why such an important military and political figure was not traveling in a military car was because the Austrian army had a restricted budget in 1914. Their official travel route was made public long before Franz Ferdinand arrived in Bosnia.
On that day Archduke Franz and his wife Sophie travelled in a Gräf & Stift open-topped touring car throughout the city of Sarajevo. Vitus’ Day was seen as an insult to Serbian nationalists. The national and religious holiday is a significant event for Serbian national identity. A wrong turn fatefully crossed the paths of the Archduke of Austria-Hungary and a Bosnian Serb student who assassinated Franz Ferdinand and his wife, Sophie. This could have all been avoided if the car carrying the Archduke hadn’t made a wrong turn. The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand was the event that led to the declaration of war. While the exact number of victims who died or were injured during WWI is unknown, everyone knows what started the war. It is estimated that around 9 million soldiers died in combat, an additional 23 million soldiers were wounded, 5 million civilians died, and an unknown number of victims also perished in the many genocides in the Ottoman Empire and the 1918 influenza pandemic. The war spanned across Europe, the Pacific, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. Most of Europe was fighting along with the Russian Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the United States. WWI is still considered to be one of the deadliest conflicts in history.
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Franz Ferdinand's assassination led to the July Crisis and precipitated Austria-Hungary's declaration of war against Serbia, which in turn triggered a series of events that eventually led – four weeks after his death – to Austria-Hungary's allies and Serbia's allies declaring war on each other, starting World War I.World War I, or the “Great War,” was one of the first global conflicts that began in 1914 and ended in 1918. On 28 June 1914, Franz Ferdinand and his wife were assassinated in Sarajevo by the 19-year-old Gavrilo Princip, a member of Young Bosnia. Franz Ferdinand held significant influence over the military, and in 1913 he was appointed inspector general of the Austro-Hungarian armed forces. His courtship of Sophie Chotek, a lady-in-waiting, caused conflict within the imperial household, and their morganatic marriage in 1900 was only allowed after he renounced his descendants' rights to the throne. Following the death of Crown Prince Rudolf in 1889 and the death of Karl Ludwig in 1896, Franz Ferdinand became the heir presumptive to the Austro-Hungarian throne. Princess Maria Annunciata of Bourbon-Two Siciliesįranz Ferdinand was the eldest son of Archduke Karl Ludwig of Austria, the younger brother of Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria.
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