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Archduke Cruz Ferdinand Research Paper

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On June 28, 1914, 50-year-old Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austrian throne, along with his 46-year-old wife Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg, were shot to death at 10:45 a.m while driving through Franz Joseph street in Sarajevo, the Capital of Bosnia. They were assassinated by Gavrilo Princip, an 19-year-old Serbian nationalist who is part of a conspiracy by a terrorist group of six assassins called "Black Hand" hoping to inspire Bosnia to revolt against rule by Austria-Hungary. Two attempts were made on the archduke's life during the day. He was in Bosnia to direct the manoeuvres of the Austrian Army Corps stationed in the province. At 10:15 a.m, when the royal couple passed the central police station, 19-year-old student Nedeljko Čabrinović hurled a hand grenade at the Archduke's motorcade. The chauffeur accelerated when he saw the object flying towards him, but the bomb had a 10-second delay and exploded under the wheel of the fourth car. Two of the occupants, Eric von Merizzi and Count Alexander von Boos-Waldeck, were seriously wounded. About a dozen spectators were also hit by bomb shrapnel and were taken to the hospital. …show more content…

Later in the morning, the Archduke decided to go to the hospital to visit the victims of the bomb. Princip saw his motorcade passing near the Latin Bridge, and made the split-second decision to fire with his revolver. The first bullet pierced the side of the motorcade and hit Sophie in the abdomen, the second bullet struck the Archduke in the neck. Both died of their wounds fifteen minutes later. " They were such a lovely couple; I wish I had known about the change of route, that way I could have gone down Appel Quay road and save their lives" said Leopold Loyka, 28,

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