Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand

Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austrian throne, visited Sarajevo, in Bosnia, on 28 June 1914. Gavrilo Princip, a Bosnian nationalist, was one of a half-dozen student terrorists sworn to assassinate him. It was a confused, messy business. The archduke did not appear when or where he was meant to on the route out of the city and Princip thought he had missed his chance. Disconsolate, he sat at a table in a pavement café. An open car stopped in the square opposite. Incredibly, inside sat the archduke and archduchess. Without hesitation, Princip dashed into the street, leaped onto the running-board, and fired six shots at the pair before the startled bodyguards could move. Both Franz Ferdinand and Sophia died of their wounds.

Princip was arrested, tried and sentanced to a prison term of 20 years, but died having undergone a operation to remove an arm which was tubercular.

This article is based on material taken from A Traveller's History of France (© Robert Cole), published by The Windrush Press, and is by kind permission of its author Robert Cole.