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
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