The First World War started in 1914 in Europe. The immediate trigger was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, by a Serbian nationalist in Sarajevo, the provincial capital of Bosnia-Herzegovina (formally annexed by Austria-Hungary in 1908). World War I ended on November 11, 1918, when an armistice was signed between the Allies (primarily France, Britain, Russian Empire, Italy, Japan, and the United States) and Germany. The armistice took effect at 11:00 AM, and the fighting stopped. The war had lasted for four years and had claimed the lives of millions of people.