On June 28, 1914, an agitator stepped off a crowded pavement in Sarajevo and shot the heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, Franz Ferdinand, and his wife Sophie. The two shots resulted from a series of security blunders combined with the unexpected good luck of the conspirators-who had already bungled one attempt. But the shots added the final burden to the tensions racking Europe, and triggered off the First World War.

This article is located in the History of the First World War Volume 1 (REF D522 .H58 1969 V.1).