Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand

Date: June 28, 1914 • Location: Kobilja Glava, Bosnia and Herzegovina

This milestone marked the outbreak and beginning of this historic period, which spanned 1914–1918.

Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg, were assassinated in Sarajevo by Gavrilo Princip (pictured), a Yugoslav nationalist, sparking the outbreak of World War I.

Archduke Franz Ferdinand Carl Ludwig Joseph Maria of Austria was the heir presumptive to the throne of Austria-Hungary. His assassination in Sarajevo was the most immediate cause of World War I.