Illustration depicting the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife in Sarajevo by Gavrilo Princip, June 28, 1914.
Illustration depicting the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife in Sarajevo by Gavrilo Princip, June 28, 1914. Today 109 years ago, on June 28, 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, was assassinated in the Bosnian capital of Sarajevo by Serb nationalist Gavrilo Princip, leading directly to the outbreak of the First World War. In June 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife decided on a visit to Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia-Herzegovina, for the opening of a state museum and for the couple's 14th wedding anniversary. Bosnia-Herzegovina had been formally annexed into the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1908. The Bosnian revolutionary movement 'Young Bosnia' and the secret Serbian military organization the 'Black Hand' sought Bosnian independence in order to unify with Serbia in the formation of a Yugoslavia. Archduke Franz Ferdinand was in favour of a triple empire between Austria, Hungary and the Slavic nations. Feari...