In 1914 Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir presumptive to the Austro-Hungary Empire, is assassinated (An event that causes the First World War).
On the 20th of May 1882 the Austro-Hungarian Empire signed a treaty with Germany and Italy known as the Triple Alliance Treaty (1882). The treaty was a military alliance of the signatories which ensured support of the other nations in the event of aggression from any other “Great Power”. The Great Powers were Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Austro-Hungary, Russia and The United States.
On the 17th of August 1892 France and Russia drafted their own Military Alliance in response, guaranteeing the others assistance if either was attacked by another Great Power. The Franco-Russian Treaty was completed on the 4th of January 1894. Great Britain had remained neutral but on the 8th of April 1904 they signed the “Entente Cordiale” with France which was a similar military alliance treaty. The Entente Cordiale also formally ended centauries of colonial wars between the two nations. Britain changed its foreign policy, which had seen France as the only major threat, but the German Empire was growing and they were attempting to build a Navy to rival that of the Royal Navy. Britain and Russia had become rivals in Asia since the Russian and Persian “Treaty of Gulistan” on the 24th of October 1813. The rivalry for supremacy in Asia, known as the “Great Game” finally ended with the Anglo Russian Convention signed on the 31st of August 1907 which was also a Military Alliance between Britain and Russia. These treaties between Britain, France and Russia became known as the Triple Entente and along with the Triple Alliance two great power structures had formed in Europe.
The Serbian King Milan I Obrenović had a very close relationship with the Austro-Hungarian Empire and they lived in peace for many years. On the 28th of May (10th of June Gregorian) 1903 King Milan I Obrenović and his wife, Queen Draga were killed in what became known as the May Coup and replaced with King Peter I. Peter I had ambitions of rebuilding the Serbian Empire of the 14th Centaury and this growth of the Serbian Empire would bring much conflict between Serbia and the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
On the 6th of October 1908 the Austro-Hungarian Empire officially announced its Annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina which angered Serbia, Montenegro, the Russian Empire and many of the Bosnian people in what became known as the “Bosnian Crisis”. Serbia backed many would-be-assassins against the Empires officials but soon Serbian Nationalists would orchestrate one of the most infamous assassinations in history.
In June 1913 Emperor Franz Joseph I sent his nephew and heir, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, to the Bosnian capital Sarajevo to inspect the Hungarian troops there. The Inspection was set for the 28th of June and both Ferdinand and his wife, Sophie Chotek von Chotvoka, arrived early in the day with the intention of having lunch before the inspection.
Seven Serbian terrorists, which were part of the Black Hand group, planned the assassination attempt of Archduke Ferdinand while on his visit. The seven men were in place along the planned route each with the intent to carry out the assassination if the others were unable. The first two assassins couldn’t strike due to the crowds on the street but the third, Vaso Čubrilović, was able to throw a timed bomb at the car containing Ferdinand and his wife. The bomb however bounced off the car and exploded under another car in the Archdukes motorcade. The remaining cars in the motorcade continued at high speed to the town hall preventing another attempt. After the Archduke and his wife briefly recovered from the experience they planned to visit the victims of the bomb blast in the hospital. While on their way to the hospital their driver took a wrong turn and as he stopped the car to reverse another of the Assassins, Gavrilo Princip, walked up to the car and fired just two shot from about 5 meters away. One shot hit Archduke Ferdinand in the neck and another hit his wife in the stomach. Franz Ferdinand, his wife and unborn child all died from the shots.
The Austro Hungarian Empire blamed the Serbian government for the incident and sent an ultimatum, The July Ultimatum, to Serbia requesting, certain demands be met including that they punish anyone in Serbia guilty of the Assignation of the Archduke. Serbia agreed with some of the proposals but ultimately rejected it. The Serbian Empire had already confirmed their Alliance with Russia and mobilised troops before they rejected the Ultimatum and similarly Austro-Hungary confirmed their alliance with Germany before sending it. With the Ultimatum rejected Austro-Hungary declared war of Serbia on the 28th of July 1914. Due to the military alliance treaties of all the Great Powers of Europe this war soon became the First World War.
