
Princip and Cabrinovic were too young to face death under Austro-Hungarian law and received the maximum term possible of 20 years imprisonment. Tried for treason and murder, eight were found guilty (one remianing conspirator escaped to Serbia before the trial) and three of the men were executed. Both were immediately arrested and, under questioning, eventually gave up the names of their co-conspirators. Only two made an attempt on his life, Nedjelko Cabrinovic and Gavrilo Princip. Nine men had set out to kill the archduke that day. "His face began to twist somewhat but he went on repeating, six or seven times, ever more faintly as he gradually lost consciousness, 'It's nothing!' Then, after a short pause, there was a violent choking sound caused by the bleeding. He answered me quite distinctly, 'It's nothing!' Lt Col Harrach added "I seized the Archduke by the collar, to stop his head dropping forward, and asked him if he was in great pain. Then I heard His Imperial Highness say, 'Sopherl, Sopherl, don't die. "I had no idea that she was hit and thought she had simply fainted with fright. As Harrach went to the archduke's assistance, the duchess appears to have cried out, "What has happened to you?" before sinking down in her seat with her face between her knees. He has revealed details of the archduke and Sophie's final moments.Īfter the shots were fired, Harrach describes seeing "a thin stream of blood spurt from His Highness's mouth onto my right cheek". France and Britain joined the cause after a failed Schlieffen plan by Kaiser Wilhelm.We have just heard from the Archduke's aide, Count Frank Harrach, who was standing beside the archduke when the attack took place. Russia supported Serbia and went to war to protect them after Kaiser Wilhelm and Germany supported the Austrian Cause. Serbia accepted all but one and Austria declared war on Serbia on July 28th, 1914. They were to admit the clauses of a document sent to them. The Austria-Hungarian government blamed Serbia for the attacks and sent them an ultimatum.

This assassination set off a chain of events which descended into war. He took his opportunity at fired at the archduke and his wife, killing them both.
#Archduke franz ferdinand ww1 driver#
On the way to visit these people, his driver took a wrong turn, right into Franzjosefstrasse, where another member of the Black Hand Gang, Gavrilo Princip had been buying lunch. The archduke and his wife were taken to safety, however, he decided that they should go visit these wounded people in the hospital.

The bomb hit the back of the vehicle and missed the Archduke, hitting and wounding bystanders. It was at this point that a Serbian nationalist from the Black Hand Gang, Nedjelko Cabrinovic, threw a bomb into the car. On June 28th, 1914, the archduke and his wife, Sophie, travelled in an open top car through the streets of Sarajevo.
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On the day that he was assassinated, Franz Ferdinand had travelled to Sarajevo in order to inspect his troops there. Thanks to this annexation, many nationalist groups had been created as they believed they should be allowed to join the new independent Serbian nation. Austria-Hungary had annexed the Balkans in 1908 and in turn infuriated the Serbian nationals there. Archduke Franz Ferdinand was the heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
