The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand by Serbian irredentists, 28 June 1914
On 28 June 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir presumptive to the Austro-Hungarian throne, and his wife, Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg, were shot dead, by two gun shots[52] in Sarajevo by Gavrilo Princip, one of a group of six assassins (five Serbs and one Bosniak) coordinated by Danilo Ilić, a Bosnian Serb and a member of the Black Hand secret society.
The assassination is significant because it was perceived by Austria-Hungary as an existential challenge to her and in her view provided a casus belli with Serbia. The Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph was aged 84, so the assassination of his heir, so soon before he was likely to hand over the crown, was seen as a direct challenge to Austrian polity. Many ministers in Austria, especially Berchtold, argue this act must be avenged.[53] Moreover, the Archduke, who had been a decisive voice for peace in the previous years, had now been removed from the discussions. The assassination triggered the July Crisis, which turned a local conflict into a European, and then a worldwide, war.
This war gave rise to the mindset of Adolph Hitler, after the war’s end with Germany being the loser and having to pay reparations, which left the country devastated and broke. The populace was as bad off as they would become at the end of the Next world war (WWII). The rise of Adolph Hitler was precipitated by unrest in Germany after WWI and his jailing for participation in a failed coup. After his release in 1924, Hitler gained popular support by attacking the Treaty of Versailles and promoting Pan-Germanism, antisemitism, and anti-communism with charismatic oratory and Nazi propaganda. He frequently denounced international capitalism and communism as part of a Jewish conspiracy. This was the beginning of his rise to power which occurred over the next 10 years. This rise culminated in WWII which saw the atrocities of the Nazi death camps and the ultimate destruction of German and Japanese (his ally) cities .
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