At first Franz Ferdinand was third in line for the crown. After two untimely deaths he became next in line for the crown. He was going to bring great ideas about giving Slavs an equal voice. Which was a direct conflict with the Serbian nationalists.

Much has been said about Archduke Franz Ferdinand most of which was not the nicest things. Some people thought that he lacked the two key elements on which he needed to be able to succeed. When Franz Ferdinand married went against the Emperor's wishes and so they had to renounce rank and succession to his children.

The assassination of Franz Ferdinand was orchestrated by 6 assassins. The name of plan they used is called Young Bosnia. They were given safe houses, clandestine network, and were given weapons by Black Hand a terrorist group close with the Serbian army. They gave them 6 handheld bombs, 4 semi automatic pistols, and cyanide capsules. The Black Hand smuggled the weapons across boarders.

The assassination happened on June 28 it was Franz Ferdinand's 14 wedding anniversary. They young couple was touring Sarajevo in an open car with little security. They were supposed to have twice as much security but the security team was more focused on dinner.

Serbian nationalist Nedjelko Cabrinovic threw a bomb at the car but it rolled off the car and hit the car behind them and injured a officer and some bystanders. While they were on the way to go see the injured they took a wrong turn. 19-year-old Gavrilo Princip, happened to be loitering and he saw the opportunity and he fired upon the car at point blank range. He hit Ferdinand in the neck and hit Sophie in the stomach. The couple died within an hour.

When the assassin shot both Archduke and Sophie he later said he didn't mean to hit Sophie. The assassin ended up getting 20 years in prison. The Archduke's last words were "Sophie, Sophie don't die stay alive for our children."

The spark of the war has begun. Austro-Hungarian declaration of war was delayed because they were waiting for support of Germany. Russia, Belgium, France, Great Britain and Serbia had all teamed up against Germany and Austro-Hungarian. Many countries blamed Serbia and lined up with Germany and Austro-Hungarian. The tenuous peace of Europe's powers has collapsed. Thus beginning WWI.