On June 28, 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the heir presumptive to the throne of Austria-Hungary, was assassinated in Sarajevo. To the Western powers, the killing appeared of little consequence and was dismissed as just another shooting in the Balkans. Yet within a matter weeks, the First World War had begun. While the violent act of a single assassin is often blamed for the outbreak of hostilities, there is the simple fact that had a driver not taken a wrong turn the shooting might not have taken place at all. So, did an error of judgment really precipitate the Great War, or was conflict in a Europe dominated by rival empires simply inevitable?
Click through and revisit that fateful day in 1914 and the fallout that followed.