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
Prince Ernst of Hohenberg Prince Ernst of Hohenberg Prince Ernst of Hohenberg ("Ernst Alfons Franz Ignaz Joseph Maria Anton von Hohenberg"; 27 May 1904 – 5 March 1954) was the second son of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his morganatic wife Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg, who were assassinated at Sarajevo in 1914. Prince Ernst was born at his parents' estate at Konopiště in Bohemia. Following his parents' assassination, which precipitated World War I, Ernst and his siblings, Sophie and Maximilian, were taken in by their uncle, Prince Jaroslav von Thun und Hohenstein. In late 1918, their properties in Czechoslovakia, including Konopiště and Chlumec