World War I Begins
The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand triggered a chain of alliances that plunged Europe into the First World War.
On June 28, 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary was assassinated in Sarajevo by Gavrilo Princip, a Bosnian Serb nationalist. The assassination triggered a cascade of alliance obligations that drew the major European powers into war within weeks. World War I (1914-1918) would involve over 30 countries, result in approximately 17 million deaths, redraw the map of Europe and the Middle East, and set the stage for World War II.
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