The Archduke Franz Ferdinand foresaw the Balkan States as units in a further extended Empire of the Hapsburgs or as a subject confederation, readily amenable as an effective instrument for the execution of Hapsburg policy and even as an incident in Pan-Germanism. The annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina was a policy entirely in accord with his sympathy, and thus it may be readily understood that the Archduke was naturally in violent antagonism to Servia. This State had emerged from the Balkan War of 1912 strengthened with enlarged territory, and was the State which of all others had maintained and even strenuously fostered the ideal of a complete Balkan independence.

The then Slav element in the kingdom of Hungary, particularly the Croats, had been for all practical purposes been deprived of all the privileges of citizens and the rights of free men. The Slav crowds in the streets of Serajevo, knew that only within the last few days bombs had been thrown among the Croats and Slovenes at Trieste, with the tacit approval of the authorities; that high-school and other festivities which had been arranged for that very day of National Fête in other parts of the country had been prohibited.

The Archduke arrived at the railway station at Serajevo with his consort, having first of all held a military inspection, When driving in a motor car to the town hall, through crowded streets of people, a bomb was thrown at his motor car. It was thrown by a young Slav printer, named Cabrinovic, a native of Herzegovina belonging to the Serb Orthodox Faith. The Archduke escaped this attack - it is said, by warding off the bomb with his arm - and proceeded to the town hall. An aide-de-camp who was seated in one of the motor cars that followed was wounded in the neck by fragments of the bomb and several passers-by also received slight injuries.

On the arrival of the Archduke and his consort at the town hall, his Imperial Highness was furiously angry and full of wrath and said to the mayor, who was there to present an address, "What is the good of your speeches? I come to Serajevo on a visit, and I get bombs thrown at me. It is outrageous." The Archduke then very shortly drove back in procession from the town hall to the railway station.

He had proceeded but a very short distance when a second attempt was made on his life. This attempt was successful. First, a bomb was thrown at his motor car by another Slav, a Bosnian high school student named Princip, who also belonged to the Serb Orthodox Faith. The bomb did not explode. Princip thereupon fired three shots from a pistol. The first shot hit the Archduke in the neck. The Duchess, seeking to cover his body, threw herself in front of him and affectionately held him in her arms. The second and third bullets followed, finding their destination in the bodies of the royal couple, who by this time were completely locked in one another's embraces. General Potiorch, Chief of the Administration, who was sitting in the Archduke's motor car, escaped injury. The Archduke and the Duchess were rapidly conveyed to the General Official's residence, the Archduke meanwhile rousing himself with a final effort to implore his wife: "Sophie, live for our children!" but both, when they reached the house, were past help, and received the Last Sacrament and died.

On the 28th day of July, 1914, one month exactly after the date of the assassination of the Archduke, Austria declared war on Servia.