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It was the assassination of the Habsburg heir, the Archduke Franz Ferdinand, by Bosnian Serbs, as a protest against Austrian rule.

The success of this plot was quite accidental. A disorganised amateur group of teenagers had planned the assassination, but they had managed only to throw one bomb that missed its target. As a result, the Archduke ordered a change of route, but the chauffeur didn't hear him. In the confusion, the car halted on a corner, where one of the conspirators, who was armed with a pistol, saw the stationery vehicle and fired his weapon, killing Franz Ferdinand and his wife.

The Austrians took this as a mortal insult, and Germany urged them to take a tough line against Serbia. Russia felt it ought to mobilise in support of its Slav brethren, and the whole bluffing game went on for a few disastrous weeks until Britain finally declared war on Germany.

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13y ago

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