Title: 1914 - Assassination of Archduke Franz-Ferdinand

​

About: The political tensions in Europe finally boiled over when Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip fired the bullets that would trigger the outbreak of the First World War. 

​

Archduke Franz-Ferdinand, leader of the Austro-Hungarian empire,  had traveled to Sarajevo in June 1914 to inspect the imperial armed forces in Bosnia and Herzegovina. He was touring the city in an open car, with surprisingly little security, when Serbian nationalist Nedjelko Cabrinovic threw a bomb at their car; it rolled off the back of the vehicle and wounded an officer and some bystanders. Later that day, on the way to visit the injured officer, the archduke’s procession took a wrong turn at a junction, where by random chance one of Cabrinovic’s cohorts, 19-year-old Gavrilo Princip, happened to be loitering.

​

Seizing his opportunity, Princip fired into the car, shooting Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie at point-blank range. Princip then turned the gun on himself, but was prevented from shooting by a bystander who threw himself upon the young assassin. A mob of angry onlookers attacked Princip, who fought back and was subsequently wrestled away by the police. 

 

The assassinations triggered World War I. European politics had been simmering for a few years already and was just waiting for a spark to start a war. Austria-Hungary blamed Serbia for the assassination, and declared war.  Russia, allied with Serbia, subsequently declared war on Austria-Hungary, but also their allies Germany.  France, Britain and Belgium were aligned with Russia, and so the stage was set for the most brutal conflict the world had yet seen.

​

​

Decade: 1910s

Year: 1914

Region: Europe

Country: Serbia + Austria

Conflict: World War I

Politics: Protest

Politics: Imperialism

Society: Crime

​

Type: Historical Event

Impact: 7

Artist: Jaroslaw Marcinek

_____________________________________________________________________

​

Group: Genesis

Number: 14/100

Price: 0.7 ETH

​

_____________________________________________________________________

​