World War 1 #OnThisDay

How the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand led to World War 1 within a month

The circumstances of the shooting of Franz Ferdinand were unusual, but it was not seen as a particularly significant geopolitical event at the time. Here is the chain of events that transpired, leading to one of the biggest conflicts in history.

June 28, 1914: “But if ever a man went anywhere of his own free will, Franz Ferdinand went to Sarajevo.”

June 28, 1914: Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie – setting out in their motorcade in Sarajevo that fateful morning, as the assassins, unseen, move into position. Here are two excerpts from Rebecca West’s towering Black Lamb and Grey Falcon. The book is not solely about the assassination; it’s a travelogue, detailing her trips through Yugoslavia in the late 1930s. The whole book is worth a read – don’t let its daunting size scare you o…

World War 1 #OnThisDay

On 28 June 1914,  Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir presumptive to Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria, visited Sarajevo, the capital of the recently annexed Bosnia and Herzegovina. After several failed attempts he was finally killed by Gavrilo Princip who fired two pistol shots, fatally wounding Ferdinand and his wife Sophie. This triggered off not only the brutal suppression of […]