How the Assassination of Archduke Ferdinand Actually Occurred

The event that actually started the war was the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand, hier to the throne of Austria-Hungary. His assassination and the events that followed it leading up to World War One are known as the "July Crises." In 1914 many of the people who lived in Bosnia-Herzegovina wanted to break away from Austria-Hungary and unite with Serbia. A terrorist group called the Black Hand had been formed to try and assassinate the governor of Bosnia-Herzegovina.

The leader of the Black Hand, Dragutin Dimitrijevec had heard that Ferdinand would be traveling through the province. He sent nine men: Gavrilo Princep, Nedjelko Cabrinovic, Trifko Grabez, Muhamed Mehmedbasic, Danilo Illic, Vaso Cubrilovic, Cvijetko Popovic, Misko Jovanovic and Veljko Cubrilovic to Sarajevo to carry out the assassination.

On June 28, 1914 Archduke Ferdinand was in a car with his wife Sofia heading through the Austrian provinces of Bosnia-Herzegovina. He had been invited by the governor to watch army drills since Ferdinand was the Inspector of the Armed Forces and was very popular among them. Although he knew that there was much hostility in the region he decided to make the trip anyway.

Ferdinand met with the governor, General Oskar Potiorek in Bosnia-Herzegovina and they started on their destination to City Hall. Spectators gathered in the streets to watch the Archduke's car pass by. As Ferdinand's car proceeded, members of the black Hand threw small grenades at him. The explosions of the bombs injured two people. Once Ferdinand was out of range of enemy fire he decided to visit the people at the hospital injured by the bombs. He and his driver then mapped a new travel route to avoid being seen by the terrorists but his driver made a wrong turn.

As he backed the car up, a Black Hand member terrorist, Gavrilo Princep fired his gun at Archduke and his wife Sofia from a short distance of about 5 feet. They were rushed to the hospital and died soon afterward from their wounds.

The assassination of Archduke Ferdinand outraged the people of Austria-Hungary and they clamored for war. The government sent an altimatum to the Serbian government that stated that Serbia must allow Austria-Hungary officials to investigate to the fullest extent anyone who might be involved in the assassination. Serbia agreed to all of the terms of the ultimatum except one. The Austria-Hungary government decided that by Serbia unwilling to agree to every term of the ultimatum, war must be declared. This declaration of war created a spark plug that ignited World War One.