Franz Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria


Franz Ferdinand (sometimes called Francis Ferdinand in English) (July 18,
1863 - June 28, 1914) was born in Graz, Styria and was the Habsburg
Archduke of Austria and heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne. His
assassination by Gavrilo Princip on June 28, 1914 in Sarajevo,
Austrian-occupied Bosnia-Herzegovina, precipitated the Austrian
proclamation of war against Serbia which triggered World War I.

A nephew of the Emperor Franz Josef I of Austria and next in line to the
crown following the suicide of his cousin Crown Prince Rudolph at Mayerling
(January 30, 1889) and the death of his father Carl Ludwig (May 19, 1896).
His marriage (July 1, 1900) to the (relatively low-ranking) Countess Sophie
Chotek (henceforth Duchess of Hohenburg) was permitted only after the couple
had agreed that the bride would not enjoy royal status and their children
would have no claims to the throne. Franz Josef did not attend the wedding.

Franz Ferdinand alienated many sections of Austro-Hungarian political
opinion, including Hungarian nationalists who opposed his advocacy of
manhood suffrage which would undermine Magyar domination in the Hungarian
kingdom, both supporters and opponents of the Empire's existing dualist
structure suspicious of his idea for a third Croat-dominated Slav kingdom
including Bosnia and Herzegovina as a bulwark against what was percieved in
Vienna's hausplatz as Serbian irredentism, and non-Catholics and
anticlericalists angered by his patronage (April 22, 1900) of the Catholic
Schools Association.

No evidence has been found to support suggestions that his low-security
visit to Sarajevo was arranged by elements within Austro-Hungarian official
circles with the intention of exposing him to the risk of assassination so
as to remove a potentially troublesome royal personage from the scene.