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
Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg (; ; 1 March 1868 – 28 June 1914), was the wife of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne. Their assassination in Sarajevo sparked a series of events that eventually led to World War I. Sophie was born in Stuttgart as the fourth daughter of Count Bohuslav Chotek von Chotkow und Wognin, a Bohemian aristocrat and Ambassador, and his wife Countess Wilhelmine Kinsky von Wchinitz und Tettau. As a young woman, Sophie became a lady-in-waiting to Archduchess Isabella, the wife of Archduke Friedrich, Duke of Teschen, head