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He was the eldest son of Archduke Carl- Ludwig von Hapsburg and Princess Annunizata di Borbone. He was third in lin to the throne, upon birth.
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After the Crown Prince Rudolf commits suicide in 1889 and his own father dies, Francis Ferdinand is next in line to the thrown.
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The Archduke married Countess Sophie Chotek in 1900. Their marriage wasn't fully supported because Sophie was deemed lower in social status than the Archduke. Francis wanted to marry her either way. They ended up having three children together.
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Balkans were small states that had tensions over power. The Ottoman Empirewas weaking, so the Balkan nations wanted to assert themselves. The annexing of Bosnia caused a huge European crisis that caused Serbians to declare war on Austria.
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Russia tried to create an alliance with the Balkans against Austria, but the Blakans changed the alliance against the Ottoman empire and started the First Balkan War. The Turks were nearly all out of Europe.
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The second Balkan War occured because the winners of the First Balkan War wanted a fair share of the new land they recieved from the war.
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Sophie and Franz Ferdinand went to visit Sarajevo. A terrorist group called the Blank Hand sent operatives to assasinate the Archduke. Their first attempt failed but the second succeeded. Gavrilo Princip shot Sophie and Francis at point bank. They were dead minutes after.
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Franz Ferdinands death sparked this immense war by having several nations try and assert their power in the crisis of the assassination. Ausria- Hungray and Germany were both allies, Russia and Serbia are allies. Austria- Hungray declares war on Serbia. Russia, Belgium, France, Great Britain and Serbia were fighting against Austria- Hungary and Germany.
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The vast war ends on account of the peace treaty, The Treaty of Versailles. It helped provide restraint from another war, which eventually gave way twenty years later.
