The Causes of WWI In June 28, 1914 a Serbian nationalist named Gavrilo Princip shot the Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, while he was visiting Bosnia. Gavrilo Princip was a young man apart of a nationalist group called the Black Hand. This murder set off a chain reaction that set World War I into motion. Austria wanted to handle the crime themselves but the government officials in Serbia whom supported the black hand denied the request. Austria was not happy with Serbia’s decision, so Austria declared war. At the beginning of the war it was the Triple Alliance (Austria, Germany, and Italy) against the Triple Entente (France, Serbia, and Russia). This ended up to be the worst war in history in its time, It was considered the Great