Well....it was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, who had moved from #3 in line to the leader of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
I could go into a long story over what happened to #1 and #2 in line, but that's for another day.
Ferdinand and his wife....were shot at close range while in a car....in Sarajevo.
I should note that the region around Bosnia-Herzegovina became Empire property back in 1908.
The shooter? Gavrilo Princip (Bosnian Serb student). He was part of a 'gang'...all with the same strategy.....as a student revolutionary group. The process in their mind? Free Bosnia and Herzegovina from the Austria-Hungarian Empire.
Were the six alone? Well....no. It appears to some degree....another group from Serbia....the Black Hand group, who were under some control of the Serbian military structure....were giving some guidance to the young men.
What happens after the killing? There is a cascade effect, with Germany siding with the Empire, Russia getting involved to protect Serbia, and France/England coming to some part against Germany.
The assassins? 25 were indicted....to include the young folks. This wrapped up in October 1914. The principal guy who fired the rounds? He was considered too young to execute.....getting 20 years in the state prison.
The Black Hand folks? Three years passed, and finally in 1917....Serbia cranked up some charges (mostly fake) surrounding high treason. The gov't ordered Black Hand to be dissolved (whether it was or not.....to be debated). Three members were executed.
The showcase trials (2 of them) mostly to show they were resolved to get into the good graces of Austria-Hungary? Most would suggest that.
So the entire war....all a minor-step strategy to gain independence and the six had no idea of the 'wave' that they would create? I would argue that.
Did the six involved even grasp how the Black Hand folks were using them? There's never been any real proof that the 'students' really understood the ambition or goals of the Black Hand group.
How did Black Hand originate? Well....this gets interesting....they were originally called 'La Mano Negra' in Spain.....and were mostly a secret anarchist group in the in the Andalusian region of Spain. Oddly enough....they had elements of the US Klu Klux Klan in their strategy.....conducting murders, and arson in the early 1880s.
Black Hand arrived in Serbia around 1910, and identical to the Spanish anarchist group.
I say all of this because this Nord Stream I/II updated story....leading to 7 folks on a yacht who blew up the pipeline....seems to have a funny scent to six students who killed the crown prince, and you have to wonder....if back in the Ukraine....there's a new updated Black Hand group with a odd motive.
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