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 On June 28 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne and his wife Sophie were assassinated by a young member of the Serbian "Black Hand", Gavrilo Princip. A Bosnian, Princip and his group were trying to bring attention to the cause of Pan-Slavic unity.  Bosnia had been absorbed into the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1908.

The Archduke's marriage was considered "morganic", i.e. a legally valid marriage between a male member of a noble house and a woman of lesser birth or rank, with the provision that she shall not thereby accede to his rank and that the children of the marriage shall not succeed to their father's hereditary dignities.  So at the royal court, Sophie could never stand by her husband, but was always relegated to the sidelines.

June 28 was not only Armed Forces Day but their anniversary. Franz took advantage of the trip far away from Vienna to have Sophie participate in the festivities.  Thus she was also at his side when the bullets were fired.

You should have learned the rest of the story in school. Hungary demanded the right to send troops into Bosnia to round up the Black Hand...Russia saw itself as the protector of the Serbs and threatened action.  Hungary's ally Germany threatened Russia, which began mobilization of her troops.

And then Germany invaded France!  (Their one battle plan - The Von Schlieffen Plan - called for it, and Germans love following orders.)

To invade France, the German army passed through Belgium,  whose neutrality was guaranteed by England (among others).  This England and it's empire was drawn into the war.

And sixteen million were killed.





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