| Image from Smithsonian Magazine. Illustrated supplement from Le Petit Journal, published in 1914. |
On June 28, 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated.
Franz Ferdinand was Archduke and heir apparent of Austria-Hungary, and found himself in conflict with Emperor Franz Joseph I on several occasions. The first major source of tension between Franz and Franz stemmed from Ferdinand's romantic interest in Sophie Chotek, a Czech countess, which was not a relationship that the emperor approved of. Another cause for soreness between the two had political roots; Austria-Hungary was a multiethnic empire, with much conflicts between ethnicities. Archduke Ferdinand attempted several peaceful negotiations, such as amending Austro-Hungarian rule to be a triple monarchy between Germans, Magyars, and Slavs, or the creation of 16 state federal government called The United States of Greater Austria. Emperor Franz Joseph I strongly opposed these propositions.
In late June of 1914, the archduke visited Sarajevo to inspect army manoeuvers. When the archduke's visit was announced in March of the same year, a plot to assassinate him was hatched among the "Black Hand," or "Ujedinjenje ili Smrt" (Union or Death), organization. Nedeljko Cabrinovic made the first attempt on Franz Ferdinand's life, having hurled a bomb at his car. While this failed, the next attempt hit its mark. When the car was stopped, Gavrilo Princip saw his opportunity and fired two fatal shots at Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie.
Gavrilo Princip died alone in a jail cell, and many of the Black Hand co-conspirators were executed. Following Archduke Franz Ferdinand's death, riots erupted and the Austro-Hungarian army was sent in to restore order. Germany condemned this action, feeling that the Austrian attack was unnecessary. Russia mobilized its army to come in on the side of its Serbian ally, and France, Germany, and Great Britain soon followed in joining the conflict - the start of World War I.
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