When chauffeur Leopold Lojka took a wrong turn while driving in Sarajevo one summer's morning in 1914, little did he know that he was also about to change the course of history and affect the lives of millions of young men. His passengers were Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir-apparent to the Austro-Hungarian throne, and his wife Sophie, who were visiting the Bosnian capital on business. Hours before, a young soldier with connections to Serbian militant group the Black Hand - who were seeking independence for Slavic people from Austro-Hungarian rule - had attempted to assassinate the couple by throwing a bomb at their limousine, but had failed to hit his targets. Now, as the car trundled off the beaten track, it caught the attention of a second assassin from the group, Gavrilo Princip, who was relaxing at a café. Seizing his chance, he fired seven rounds. Unlike his comrade, he didn't miss. For Austria-Hungary, already irked by Serbian interference in Bosnia, the assassination was the final straw. Its government drew up a list of ten intentionally unacceptable demands for the Serbs, known as the July Ultimatum, then waited for the inevitably reluctant response.
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