Auckland Museum · Pou KanohiLetters from the front line
Archduke Franz Ferdinand with his wife Sophie and their children, Sophie, Maximilian and Ernst.© IWM (Q81810)

War chronicle · 28 June · Sarajevo, Austria-Hungary

Assassination

The murder of Austria-Hungary’s archduke plunges the world into war.

The heir to the throne is dead. Archduke Franz Ferdinand, next in line to rule the Austro-Hungarian Empire, has been shot and killed along with his wife Sophie on a street in Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina.

The man who pulled the trigger is 19-year-old Gavrilo Princip, who later will be blamed by many for plunging the world into war. He is a member of the Black Hand – a secret society which wants to bring the states of Bosnia and Herzegovina under Serbian leadership, not that of Austria-Hungary.

Princip and seven co-conspirators are caught after the assassination and put on trial. All of the accused are found guilty, but most of them escape the death sentence because of their youth. Princip is sentenced to 20 years’ imprisonment.

But he dies in jail from tuberculosis just three years later, still convinced the assassination was justified.

Photos & objects

Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife shortly before their assassination, Sarajevo, 28 June 1914.
Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife shortly before their assassination, Sarajevo, 28 June 1914.© IWM (Q114772)
Three of the group involved in the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife. Right to left: Gavrilo Princip, Nedelko Chabrinovich and Trifko Grabej.
Three of the group involved in the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife. Right to left: Gavrilo Princip, Nedelko Chabrinovich and Trifko Grabej.© IWM (Q114773)
Souvenir cloth, 1914-18.
Souvenir cloth, 1914-18.AWMM: W2559. © Auckland Museum CC BY