The assassination of archduke franz ferdinand, explained

But both he and his beloved wife, Sophie, would never return home. During their visit, the couple were shot dead by Slavic nationalist Gavrilo Princip and the world was thrown into shock. Nothing would ever be the same again.

What happened to gavrilo princip

Franz Ferdinand was only the nephew of Emperor Franz Joseph, and had not been his first choice as heir. When Franz Ferdinand himself was then killed in , his own children were not liable to inherit. Sophie had been of nobility but not of dynastic rank, and so Franz had had to agree to a morganatic marriage in order to receive permission from the emperor to marry her.

The empire was already suffering from internal political conflict and the loss of three heirs apparent in only 25 years quickened its demise. Stretching across modern-day Austria, Bosnia-Herzegovina, the Czech Republic, Croatia, Slovakia and parts of Poland and northern Italy, the Austro-Hungarian Empire was made up of many territories which were in turn home to many different ethnic groups.

In , the dual-monarchy empire had annexed Bosnia, giving rise to Slavic nationalist movements that wanted Austria-Hungary out. Franz Ferdinand, however, intended on creating a triple-monarchy, with a third state comprised of Slavic lands that would be seen as equal to Austria and Hungary. This goal was viewed as a threat by the Slavic nationalists who wanted to secede from the empire and either join with independent Serbia or form part of a new independent state.