1) The assassination of Archduke Francisco Ferdinando, heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire along with that of his wife, Duchess Sophie, is considered the decisive episode for the beginning of the First World War. The death of this important person in European politics occurred in an attack carried out on June 28, 1914, in Sarajevo, current capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and at the time, province of Austria-Hungary.
The attack was the work of a Serbian activist, Gavrilo Princip, a member of the group "Young Bosnia" (which brought together Serbs, Croats and Bosnians). The act had a political objective, that of breaking up the Slavic provinces of Austria-Hungary, so that they could be brought together in a Greater Serbia, or "Yugoslavia"
Bosnia and Herzegovina has been under the control of Austria-Hungary since 1878, but was ethnically and culturally linked to the independent kingdom of Serbia. This kingdom had had a highly nationalist monarchy since 1903, and wished to re-establish the borders of the old Serbian Empire of the 14th century. On the day of the attack, Francisco Ferdinando was traveling to Bosnia to watch military maneuvers and to inaugurate the works of a new museum in Sarajevo. The archduke had in mind to reform the Austro-Hungarian Empire, federalizing the state, and curbing the expansionist ideals of the Serbian monarchy.
Serbian military officers were behind the attack, which generated a crisis between Austria-Hungary and Serbia, culminating in the delivery of an ultimatum to the latter on July 23, 1914. In the ultimatum, Austria-Hungary made demands that , if not accepted, would initiate an Austrian military offensive. The demands in practice violated the independence of the Kingdom of Serbia, but it accepted all but the one that required Austrian authorities to conduct investigations on Serbian soil. In fact, it is thought that Austria-Hungary would have written the document already waiting for the Serbian reaction, to cause a conflict in which it could annex the small Slavic kingdom.
2)
"Genocide" according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary is "the deliberate and systematic destruction of a racial, political or cultural group". The Armenian genocide, a dark period in history, occurred between 1915 and 1923 totaling about one and a half million Armenians killed by orders from the Ottoman government.
