On This Day In 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand Was Assassinated (PHOTOS)

LOOK: On This Day In 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand Was Assassinated

On June 28, 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie were on their way to a hospital in Sarajevo, when a young nationalist pulled out his gun and fired shots at short range. Gavrilo Princip, a 19-year-old Bosnian Serb, hit the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne in the jugular vein. When the young man then tried to kill the Austrian governor of Sarajevo, he hit Sophie instead.

One month after the assassination, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, triggering what would become known as one of the most gruesome wars in European history.

sarajevo 1914Archduke Ferdinand and his wife Sophie Chotek boarding a car just prior to his assassination in Sarajevo. (AP Photo)

assassination ferdinandArchduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophia riding in their car, minutes before their assassination on June 28, 1914. (STR/AFP/Getty Images)

sarajevo 1914An artist's rendition shows the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his Sophie, The assassin, Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip, left, of the group Black Hand, was captured. (AP Photo)

duke sarajevo 1914Front page of of Czech Daily 'Narodni Listy' carrying the news about the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. (/AFP/Getty Images)

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