The Assassination of Arch Duke Franz Ferdinand

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The Assassination of Arch Duke Franz Ferdinand

The assassination

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'Sunday the 28th of June 1914 was a very bright and extremely hot day

in Sarajevo. Sarajevo in Bosnia was preparing for a very rare royal

visit. The streets had been specially decked out for the royal visit

and colourful Turkish rugs had bean hung out along Apel Quay where the

procession was going to take place.' The Austrian-Hungarian empire in

central Europe had expanded; it had taken control of Bosnia. (A small

country in the Balkans) Serbia, who was close neighbour to Bosnia and

shared the nationality of being a Slav along side countries such as

Russia. Russia and Serbia tried to stand up to Serbia. However,

Germany told Russia that it supported Austria. Russia and Serbia

backed down so not to risk war but by building up, their army's they

would not be caught out again. This made situations even tenser than

they already were inside Austria as there were many different

nationalities being treated as unfairly as minorities. There were a

series of local wars in the Balkan area where Serbia had emerged as

the strongest nation. A group called the Black Hand were hidden among

the crowds waiting for the procession to pass. When the procession

took place, the archduke of Austria Franz Ferdinand and his wife

Sophie were assassinated.

To wipe out Serbia altogether Austria blamed it for the terrorist

attacks. Even so there was no evidence to attach Serbia to the

attacks.

Russia their ally declared war on Austria. Germany tried the same as

previously and told Russia to back down but Russia was ready and did

not so Germany declared war on Russia. This was the spark in the

gigantic bonfire of causes that started the First World War.

Empires and Alliances

Germany had recently become united in to a country from squabbling

city-states. Prussia was the largest of these, which in 1870 had won a

war against France to gain a territory called Alsace-Lorraine, which

was a big industrial area.

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