Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand

    On June 28, 1914, the shot heard around the world, fired at Archduke Franz Ferdinand, marked the beginning of what would later become  known as the Great War. Visiting the capital of Bosnia, Ferdinand and his wife, Sophie, were shot dead by a Serbian member of a nationalist group dubbing the nickname the "Black Hand."Knowledge of Black Hand's motives had been apparent to Serbian officials and they had hoped the assassination would spark a war with Austria-Hungary, their hopes were achieved. 

    Franz Ferdinand was Archduke of Austria-Este and Prince of Hungary and Bohemia and was heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne before he was assassinated. He was a prominent figure in Austria-Hungary and when he was shot, the Austro-Hungarian government blamed Serbia and decided it was time to them bring down. They knew, however, that going to war with Serbia also meant going to war with their "big brother," Russia, so they asked their ally, Germany for support.

  Following Ferdinand's death, on July 28, 1914, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia and Russia immediately sent in troops to support their ally, some of which who were stationed on the German boarder. Germany declared war on Russia four days later, then also declared war on France, who was prepared to support Russia. In a matter of days Europe had exploded into World War I.

    Franz Ferdinand's death was the spark that erupted into the first World War, but tensions had been growing so tight in Europe due to all the competition, including the arms race and the naval race, that even if the fire hadn't been shot, Europe most likely still would have ended up going to war.