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The Assassination of Archduke Ferdinand
June 28 day of nationalist pride in Serbia. Franz Ferdinand chose that day to inspect Austrian troop maneuvers in the Bosnian capital, Sarajevo. He and his wife arrived in Sarajevo on that day after concluding a royal visit to Germany and a meeting with Kaiser Wilhelm II. The assassination was a coordinated plan. The Archduke had announced the date of his visit well in advance. Black Hand members involved in the plot smuggled guns through a clandestine tunnel. -
Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia
July 1914, after a decade of confrontation between the two main European alliance finally came to a head. Seizing on the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand as a pretext, Austria-Hungary delivered an ultimatum containing unacceptable demands to Serbia on July 23. European diplomats scrambled to defuse the situation, but on July 25. Serbia assured of Russian support. Austria-Hungary assured of German support. They rejected the Serbian response, laying the groundwork for war.
