Hello and welcome to a history of Europe Key Battles podcast.

My name is Carl Reilat and this is Part 9 on the series on World War I.

It is entitled Europe Goes to War, 1914.

The 28th of June, 1914, was a Sunday, and the weather was warm and sunny in the Bosnian capital Sarajevo.

In the morning, a couple descended from a train to take a seat in an open, touring car, one of the few of its kind in Europe at the time.

The man dressed in a blue tunic and feathered hat of the dress uniform of an Austrian cavalry general was Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the throne of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. His wife Sophie, the Duchess, was dressed awed in white, except for a red sash.

It was a full-hardy decision for the Archduke to visit Sarajevo, for he was well aware that there were various nationalist groups which were likely to try and assassinate him.

The most significant would prove to be the Serbian Narodna Odbrana, along with its secret terrorist wing known as the Black Hand. Their intention was to create a

greater Serbia which would bring in parts of the Austro-Hungarian Empire with Slav populations, including

Bosnia, which had been annexed by Austro-Hungary in 1908. A group of seven members of the group plotted to kill the Archduke during his trip to Sarajevo,

and on the morning of the 28th were among the crowds that had gathered along the route of the visit.

As the procession was travelling through the city, one of the conspirators threw a grenade of the Archduke's car.

The driver saw it coming and accelerated, with the result that the bomb exploded under the next car, and several of the passengers, as well as some bystanders, were wounded.

The Archduke sent an aide to find out what had happened and then ordered the programme to proceed as planned.

After a visit to the town hall, Franz Ferdinand insisted on being driven

to the military hospital to see those who had been injured in the explosion.

On route, however, his driver took a wrong turn, driving to where one of the conspirators,

Gavrillo Principi, just happened to be standing on a street corner.

As the car tried to reverse out,

Princeopi stepped forward, raised his gun and from a distance of about five feet fired two shots.

The first bullet hit Franz Ferdinand in the neck, while the second struck the Duchess in the abdomen.

The terrified driver sped away to the governor's residence, but it was too late.

...