Archduke Franz Ferdinand (1914)

The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, by Gavrilo Princip in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914 triggered the chain of ultimatums, mobilisations, and alliances that produced World War I within six weeks. The war killed 20 million people, destroyed four empires, created the modern Middle East, and set the conditions for World War II, the Holocaust, and the Cold War.