Austria was originally one of the many German states, but in the war for the leadership of the German Empire, it was defeated by Prussia and had to withdraw from Germany.
Under the leadership of Fletcher Joseph I, Austrian Empire and Kingdom of Hungary formed a dual system Empire, which is Austro-Hungarian Empire. Together with other components of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Austro-Hungarian Empire is still one of the most powerful countries in the world. Moreover, it formed the closest military and political alliance with the German Empire.
Although, domestic conflicts are sharp and there are many problems. But as one of the great powers, Austro-Hungarian Empire still wants to expand externally. The focus of their expansion is Balkan Peninsula in the south. However, Balkan Peninsula is also the expansion direction of Russians. This caused multiple conflicts between the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Russia, and Balkan Peninsula.
Austro-Hungarian Empire wants to annex Serbia on Balkan Peninsula and further expand their territory on Balkan Peninsula. Russia supports Serbia in establishing a unified and more powerful southern Slavic country.
At the beginning of the 20th century, Serbia, which got rid of Turks rule, became increasingly powerful in the Balkans region and became the core of Yugoslavia people's opposition to foreign rule and striving for national reunification. The Yugoslavia people in Bosnia and Herzegovina strongly demand to get rid of the Austro-Hungarian Empire's rule and merge with Serbia to establish a unified Yugoslavia country. The development of the Yugoslavia national unification movement centered on Serbia made the rulers of Habsburg dynasty extremely uneasy.
Therefore, Austro-Hungarian Empire stepped up preparations for war with the goal of destroying Serbia, and it was Crown Prince Archduke Ferdinand and Austro-Hungarian Empire Chief of General Staff von Hertzendorf who presided over the formulation of the war plan for aggression against Serbia.
At that time, anti-Austrian propaganda and patriotic groups had emerged in Serbia. In 1908, the "National Defense Association" was established, and in 1911, the "Black Clothes Association" was established. These two organizations were influenced by the European anarchist trend represented by Bakunin and Kropotkin. The "National Defense Council" advocated guerrilla warfare to prevent the Austro-Hungarian Empire from annexing Serbia, and recruited and trained volunteers. The "Black Hand" advocates taking terrorist actions, and its goal is to "realize national ideas and unify all Serbian nations."
In May 1914, Germany Chief of Staff Moltke the Younger held talks with the Austro-Hungarian Empire Chief of General Staff Hertzendorf to discuss the war plan against Serbia. On June 12, Archduke Ferdinand went to his castle in Konopiste to hold talks with German Emperor Wilhelm II to predetermine a course of action for launching a war. They both believed that Russia had great domestic difficulties and could not interfere with Balkan War. German Emperor suggested that Austro-Hungarian Empire take advantage of this favorable situation to attack Serbia. Wilhelm II also clearly assured Archduke Ferdinand that if Russia intervenes in the Osse-Serbian conflict, Germany will support Austro-Hungarian Empire.
With the strong support of Germany, Austro-Hungarian Empire decided to hold a large-scale military exercise in Bosnia Sarajevo adjacent to the Serbia border. The time was chosen on June 28, which is the anniversary of Serbia being conquered by Türkiye (June 28, 1386). In this exercise, Serbia was used as the imaginary enemy and two corps were dispatched. Archduke Ferdinand and his wife decided to go to Sarawo for inspection in person.
This action of the Austro-Hungarian Empire greatly angered the Serbia nationalists, and the "Black Hand Society" and the Bosnia local secret nationalist group "Young Bosnia" formulated a plan to assassinate Ferdinand. Serbian government had discovered the assassination of Ferdinand beforehand and opposed this action, fearing that this incident might lead to dire consequences, because Serbia would be unable to resist Austro-Hungarian Empire's attack, and Russia had not completed the army's reorganization plan at this time, and it was impossible to provide Serbia with strong assistance.
Serbian government tried to prevent people from the "Black Hand Society" from leaving the country, but Border Guards, who was connected to the "Black Hand Society", allowed them to successfully cross the border into Bosnia. Serbian government also reminded the Austro-Hungarian Empire government through its minister to the Austro-Hungarian Empire that if Archduke Ferdinand goes to Bosnia, his life will be in danger. But the Austro-Hungarian Empire government ignored the warning.
After the exercise, Archduke Ferdinand and his wife entered the city in an open-top car. Although, Archduke Ferdinand has realized that he may be in danger. Therefore, the security was specially strengthened. But what he didn't expect was that his behavior this time was still seeking death.
As the motorcade drove through the streets, the crowd erupted in cheers. Archduke Ferdinand is very satisfied with this. He looks forward to the Austro-Hungarian Empire being able to annex Serbia and dominate Balkan Peninsula one day.
However, he did not realize that the crisis had already arrived. Among the cheering crowd, there were several assassins from Serbia.
Suddenly, an assassin followed the crowd toward the car and threw a bomb at the car not far away.
"Boom!" The bomb exploded. The cheering crowd suddenly became panicked.
"Protect Your Highness!" Commander of the guard shouted loudly. The soldiers surrounded Convertible Car, who was riding Archduke Ferdinand.
Fortunately, Archduke Ferdinand seemed to have better luck. The bomb did not kill him, but only scratched him.
After the initial panic, Archduke Ferdinand calmed down.
"I'm fine, the parade continues!" Archduke Ferdinand ordered.
He believed that after this assassination, he should be safe.
"Your Highness, we will go to the hotel soon. I have to be responsible for your safety!" Guard Commander rejected Archduke Ferdinand's request.
Archduke Ferdinand After thinking about it for a while, he still adopted the guard's suggestion.
The convoy began to change direction and prepared to return to the hotel. However, at this time, the crisis struck again.
When the car of Mr. and Mrs. Archduke Ferdinand drove around a corner, another member of the secret organization, 19-year-old Princip, immediately rushed forward and shot Mr. and Mrs. Archduke Ferdinand.
"Bang! Bang! Bang!" Several gunshots rang out, and Princip fired all the bullets in the pistol. As for Archduke Ferdinand and his wife, they were already lying in a pool of blood.
"God! Protect the Grand Duke and catch the assassin!" The guards were in chaos.
When they surrounded Mr. and Mrs. Archduke Ferdinand, they discovered that at this moment, Mr. and Mrs. Archduke Ferdinand had lost all signs of life. Archduke Ferdinand's eyes were wide open, as if he couldn't believe that he would die like this. All his ambitions were in vain at this moment.
Of course, Archduke Ferdinand did something even more unexpected, because his death detonated World War. All major countries were involved in this war, and tens of millions of people died in the war.