Hist

On June 28th 1914, the heir to the Austrian Empire, Franz Ferdinand, was visiting Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia.
Bosnia was in the very south-east corner of the Austrian empire and some peoplethere wanted to be independent from Austria and set up their own state which could run itself.
Franz Ferdinand had been warned that his visit could provoke trouble but he ignored this advice andvisited Sarajevo regardless. As was common at the time, he travelled in an open topped car.

Franz Joseph and his wife |
There had been trouble at the start of his royal tour of Sarajevo when anothercar in his entourage was hit by a grenade and an Austrian officer had been injured. Clearly, Sarajevo was a dangerous place to be.
However, Franz Ferdinand wanted to demonstrate that his family was incontrol of Sarajevo and to have stopped the tour would have been seen as a sign of weakness by those who did not want Bosnia and Sarajevo ruled by the Austrians.
Franz ordered that his route throughSarajevo be changed at the last minute as he wanted to see the injured officer in hospital. Unfortunately, his driver did not fully understand his instructions and got lost.
Stopping to check wherehe was, the driver attempted to reverse out on to the main street. By bad luck, he stopped right by a man called Gavrilo Princip. He was  a member of the Black Hand Gang which wanted to rid Bosnia ofAustrian rule. He had also been behind the grenade throwing and was now trying to disguise himself among the many people who lined the streets fearing the police might arrest him. Not believing hisluck, Princip pulled out the revolver he had on him and shot Franz and his wife. Both died as a result.
There was also a photographer at the scene and he captured scenes that were printed throughoutthe world.

Princip, second on the right, under arrest  |
But how did this murder of an unpopular man lead to war?
A country called Serbia was blamed by Austria for this murder. Serbia was near...