The assassination was the culmination of a series of events that had led to growing tensions between Austria-Hungary and Serbia. Bosnia and Herzegovina had been annexed by Austria-Hungary in 1908, and the Serbian government had never accepted the annexation. Many Serbian nationalists wanted to unite Bosnia and Herzegovina with Serbia, and they saw the Archduke as a symbol of Austrian oppression.
The Archduke's assassination was the immediate trigger for World War I. Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia on July 28, 1914, and Russia mobilized its army in support of Serbia. Germany, which had a mutual defense pact with Austria-Hungary, declared war on Russia and France on August 1, 1914. The war quickly spread to other countries, and by the end of 1914, the major powers of Europe were at war.
The Archduke's assassination was a significant historical event that had a profound impact on the course of the 20th century. It led to the outbreak of World War I, which resulted in the deaths of millions of people and the destruction of much of Europe. The war also led to the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Russian Empire, and it paved the way for the rise of the United States as a global superpower.