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
Archduke Karl Ludwig of Austria Archduke Karl Ludwig of Austria Archduke Karl Ludwig Joseph Maria of Austria (30 July 1833 – 19 May 1896) was the younger brother of Franz Joseph I of Austria (1830–1916), the father of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria (1863–1914), whose assassination ignited World War I, and grandfather of the last emperor, Charles I. He was born at Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna, the son of Archduke Franz Karl of Austria (1802–1878) and his wife Princess Sophie of Bavaria (1805–1872). His mother ensured he was raised a devout Roman Catholic by the Vienna Prince-archbishop Joseph Othmar Rauscher, a conviction that evolved into