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
Leopold Lojka as Ferdinand's car began to pull into it. Princip seized his chance and with his Model 1910 7.65 mm FN Browning in hand he lunged through the crowd. Lojka was attempting to reverse, and Gavrilo Princip shot and killed the Archduke, shooting him in the jugular vein, and his expectant wife, in the stomach. After the assassination, Lojka was given the task of sending three telegrams of apology: one to the Austro-Hungarian Emperor Franz Joseph, one to the German Emperor Wilhelm II, and one to the children of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. He also served as a witness for the prosecution