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
Archduke Joseph Francis of Austria Archduke Joseph Francis of Austria Josef Franz, Archduke of Austria, Prince of Hungary (Josef Franz Leopold Anton Ignatius Maria; 28 March 1895 – 25 September 1957), was the eldest son of Archduke Joseph August of Austria and Princess Auguste Maria of Bavaria. As his father was the last Palatine of Hungary and was briefly considered a possible King of Hungary in 1919–1920, Josef Franz was a potential crown prince of Hungary. He was born during the reign of his maternal great-grandfather, Francis Joseph I of Austria, who was also his second cousin once removed on his father's side. On 4