Immediate causes of the war- the july crisis The Social Aspect
Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the Austrian emperor and the heir to the Habsburg throne was assassinated on his visit to Sarajevo, which was a very dangerous place for a member of the Habsburg royal family to visit. The city was dangerous because it was the citadel of the Serb and Bosnian nationalist groups. Even more dangerous was the fact that the date the Archduke was visiting was the anniversary of a famous victory by the Turks over the Serbs. So, given the day's emotional significance, many officials warned the archduke of the dangers that awaited him. Unfortunately, the Archduke and his wife were shot by Gavrilo Princip, a teenager who was part of the Young Bosnia nationalist group, on June 28, 1914. This assassination set up the events of the following July Crisis, and ended up in the outburst of World War I. Austria-Hungary blamed the government of Serbia for the assassination. Russia did not have a big role in these events, other than the fact that it would support Serbia no matter what (McDonough 15-16).