Archduke Franz Ferdinand's Actions Before World War 1

In late June of 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, was gunned down in Sarajevo while visiting Bosnia by a Serbian nationalist named Gavrilo Princip. The successful assassination of the Archduke by the Serbian nationalists was nothing short of a miracle. One of the many breaks of luck the assassins were gifted was a wrong turn by the Archduke’s driver. This led to the heir apparent sitting stationary only feet away from Princip and his revolver. Princip’s unlikely success sparked what was considered a powdered keg in Europe, launching the continent into the bloodiest war in world history up to that point. How could the assassination of the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne launch all of Europe into war? For this question to be answered, one must first understand the conditions which the assassination took place under.
Before World War I, Europe had not seen a major war since Napoleon’s fall at the Battle of Waterloo. Since then, Europe had experienced the second wave of the Industrial Revolution, which spawned new economies and technologies that shifted the paradigm of the continent. The new

When Prime Minister Pasic learned of the assassination plot, he had a difficult problem on his hands. If he did nothing, and the plot succeeded the Black Hand 's involvement would surely come to light. The tangled connections between the Black Hand and the Serbian government would put Serbia in a very bad position. Should he warn the Austrians of the plot, he would be seen as a traitor by his countrymen. He would also be admitting to deeper knowledge of anti-Austrian actions in Serbia. A weak attempt was made to intercept the assassins at the border. When that failed, Pasic decided that he would try to warn the Austrians in carefully vague diplomatic ways that would not expose the Black Hand (Shackelford