Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir presumptive to the Austro-Hungarian throne, and his wife Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg, occurred on 28 June 1914 in Sarajevo when they were mortally wounded by Gavrilo Princip. Princip was 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 political objective of the assassination was to break off Austria-Hungary's South Slav provinces so they could be combined into a Yugoslavia. The assassins' motives were consistent with the
Veljko Čubrilović Veljko Čubrilović Veljko Čubrilović (Serbian Cyrillic: Вељко Чубриловић; 6 June 1886 – 3 February 1915) was a Bosnian Serb who was involved in the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria. He was born in Gradiška, Bosnia and Herzegovina and became a schoolteacher in Priboj Majevički. In 1914, as a member of the Black Hand secret society, he agreed to help Gavrilo Princip, Nedeljko Čabrinović, and Trifko Grabež assassinate Archduke Franz Ferdinand. His brother, Vaso Čubrilović, was also involved in the plot. On Sunday, 28 June 1914, Franz Ferdinand and Sophie von Chotkova were assassinated by Gavrilo Princip. Princip and