

With tensions already running high among Europe’s powers, the assassination precipitated a rapid descent into World War I. Three weeks too young for the death penalty, Princip was given a 20-year sentence, but contracted tuberculosis and died in jail in April 1918, at the age of just 23. Princip, a slender, 19-year-old Serbian army reject, later admitted to killing Ferdinand but said he had not meant to hit Sophie. Within minutes, though, both had passed away. “Sophie, Sophie, don’t die-stay alive for our children,” Ferdinand murmured.

As the cars attempted to reverse back onto the Appel Quay, Princip whipped out his pistol and fired two shots at the archduke from point-blank range, piercing him in the neck and also striking Sophie’s abdomen. By mistake, however, the first three cars turned onto a side street right where Princip happened to be standing. In order to dissuade any other bomb throwers, the motorcade zipped down the Appel Quay at high speeds. Upon finishing that up, he insisted on visiting the wounded officers in the hospital. Rather than immediately flee Sarajevo, Ferdinand decided to continue on to the planned event at city hall. Princip taken into custody after shooting Archduke Franz Ferdinand his wife Sophie At least two other Young Bosnians also had good looks at the archduke but apparently lost the nerve to attempt an assassination. “I am a Serbian hero,” he purportedly shouted as the police led him away. Cabrinovic jumped into the mostly dry riverbed and made a half-hearted attempt to kill himself before being apprehended. The subsequent explosion wounded two army officers and several bystanders but left Ferdinand and Sophie essentially unharmed. He then hurled his bomb at the car, only to watch it bounce off the folded-up roof and roll underneath the wrong vehicle. When the motorcade passed by, its route having been published in advance, Cabrinovic asked which car carried the archduke. Meanwhile, seven Young Bosnians had fanned out along the Appel Quay, a main avenue in Sarajevo running parallel to the Miljacka River. In fact, throughout the trip, Austro-Hungarian officials allegedly focused more attention on dinner menus than security details.
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The car in front of them was supposed to carry six specially trained officers but instead had only one, plus three local policemen. For once, Sophie was permitted to walk alongside Ferdinand during a brief troop inspection, after which the couple got in an open-topped car for a motorcade ride to city hall.

He and Sophie then boarded a train for the short ride into Sarajevo. That morning, June 28, the archduke sent a telegram to his eldest son congratulating him on his latest exam results. Oklahomaįollowing a banquet with religious and political leaders, only one day of events remained before Ferdinand and Sophie were to return home.
