Causes of World War I corrective." British Diplomat Arthur Nicolson wrote in May 1914, “Since I have been at the Foreign Office I have not seen such calm waters.” On 28 June 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir presumptive to the Austro-Hungarian throne, and his wife, Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg, were shot dead, by two gun shots in Sarajevo by Gavrilo Princip, one of a group of six assassins (five Serbs and one Bosniak) coordinated by Danilo Ilić, a Bosnian Serb and a member of the Black Hand secret society. The assassination is significant because it was perceived by Austria-Hungary as an existential challenge
French entry into World War I was not sincere in seeking peace. The French consensus was that war was inevitable. The war arose from conflict between two alliances: the Triple Alliance of Germany, Austria and Italy, and the Triple Entente of France, Russia and Britain. France had had a military alliance with Russia since 1894, designed primarily to neutralize the German threat to both countries. Germany had a military alliance with Austria-Hungary. In June 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the heir to the Austrian throne, was assassinated. The government of Austria decided to destroy Serbia once and for all, for stirring up trouble among ethnic Slavs. Berlin