Shot heard round the world The phrase "shot heard round the world" (alternatively "shots heard round the world" or "shot heard around the world") has also become associated with the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914, an event considered to be one of the immediate causes of World War I. Serbian Gavrilo Princip fired two shots, the first hitting Franz Ferdinand's wife Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg, and the second hitting the Archduke himself. The death of Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, propelled Austria-Hungary and the rest of Europe into World War I. The phrase "Shot heard
Archduke Franz Salvator of Austria Archduke Franz Salvator of Austria Archduke Franz Salvator of Austria, in Italian Francesco Salvatore Maria Giuseppe Ferdinando Carlo Leopoldo Antonio di Padova Giovanni Battista Gennaro Lodovico Gonzaga Raniero Benedetto Bernardo, in German Franz Salvator Maria Joseph Ferdinand Karl Leopold Anton von Padua Johann Baptist Januarius Aloys Gonzaga Rainer Benedikt Bernhard (Altmünster, 21 August 1866 – Vienna, 20 April 1939), was a member of the Tuscan branch of the House of Habsburg. He was a son of Archduke Karl Salvator, Prince of Tuscany and his wife Princess Maria Immaculata of Bourbon-Two-Sicilies. He was a cavalry general in the Imperial and Royal