World War 1 ranks second only to World War 2 as the most bloody and most costly war in modern history. Shortly before noon on Sunday, June 28, 1914, crowds gathered in Sarajevo, the capital of the Austrian province of Bosnia. The people in the crowd came to see Archduke Ferdinand, heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary. Along with the Archduke was his wife Sophie. While the Archduke and his wife were sitting peacefully in the car, a man jumped on the running board of the royal touring car and fired a pistol. Two of the shots hit the Archduke and one hit his wife. Both the Archduke and his wife died almost immediatley. The assassin was Gravilo Princip. Princip was a Bosnian student who had lived in Serbia. After the Killing of the Archduke …show more content…
One of the causes was that of Nationalism. Austria-Hungary controlled lands that several of its neighbors thought should belong to them. Serbia, a Slavic nation, wanted the provinces of Bosnia and Hercegovina, because it wanted an outlet to the sea and because so many Slavs lived there. Italy wanted to take the Trentino region and Trieste away from Austria-Hungary, because many Italians lived in these places. The Czechs and Slovakians also sought freedom from Austrian and Hungarian control. Another cause was Military Alliances. In 1882, Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy signed a treaty called the Triple Alliance. It was designed to protect its members against attack by France or Russia. The three members of the Alliance formed a powerful bloc in central Europe. Even though they were in the Alliance, Austria-Hungary and Italy were not very friendly. They quarreled over territory that Italy thought it should have. Both competed for control of the Adriatic sea. When war broke out in 1914, Italy did not stand by its alliance obligation. It had made a secret treaty with France in 1902. As a result, it remained neutral for a time, then delared war on