The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand by Gavrilo Princip in Sarajevo on June 28, 1914, led to the start of World War I as countries took sides. Princip was a member of the Young Bosnia group who wanted to prevent Austria from controlling Bosnia. The assassination was meant to send a message to imperialist forces, but the group did not intend to start a war. Princip died in prison four years later.
The events leading to the military action of World War I began with a bullet fired from Gavrilo Princip’s gun. On 28 June 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand visited Sarajevo and met a group of assassins who managed to kill him. Ferdinand represented the Austro-Hungarian Empire, while Princip acted for Serbia and Bosnia who wished to remain independent nations. Therefore, all of Europe chose to take sides in this division and many countries soon declared war.
Gavrilo Princip was a Bosnian Serb who believed in preventing Austria from gaining control of Bosnia. Early in life, he joined the Young Bosnia political group who used clandestine and terrorist tactics to protect their homeland. Because he was weak from tuberculosis, he was chosen, along with six others, to lead an assassination mission against the heir to the Habsburg throne of the Austrian Empire.
For the inhabitants of Sarajevo, Archduke Franz Ferdinand already represented oppression and tyranny. But he couldn’t have picked a worse day to visit the Bosnian capital than June 28th. The holiday, similar to Independence Day, celebrated the anniversary of the Battle of Kosovo. Therefore, the Young Bosniaks tried to thwart Ferdinand’s symbolic visit by assassinating him to send a message to the imperialist force that they would not be easily occupied. The group never intended to start a war involving all of Europe.
The seven assassins lined up along the route that Ferdinand’s car would take. A few attempts were made to throw a bomb at the car or shoot its occupants but failed. Gavrilo Princip, the seventh assassin, jumped into the car when he slowed down and shot both the archduke and his wife. They died right away. Princip was seized by the authorities. Since he was only 19, he was too young to receive a death sentence. Therefore, he died in prison four years later of tuberculosis.
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