Isn’t it uncanny to believe that the death of one person can cause tragic ends to the lives of 40 million people, wrecking the enormous cities of the world, jumbling the entire world order and leading to a war lasting up to four years and thereby altering the face of world history? Though it might seem strange to reflect upon it in the current times, but this is what surprisingly happened in the year 1914 setting the stage for a conflict that engulfed the world, an event we now know as the World War I.

In the early hours of a misty June morning in 1914, a single gunshot in Sarajevo set off a chain of events that would stab the world into unprecedented turmoil and destruction. Today we will travel back to that day in 1914 which ignited the spark for the 20 th century’s first great upheaval that redrew borders and reshaped societies and ideologies worldwide.

In the humming streets of Sarajevo, the capital of present-day Bosnia and Herzegovina, on June 28, 1914, the air was filled with anticipation and anxiety. The city’s routine dynamism was intensified with the presence of the heir to the throne of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, and his wife Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg. The royal couple had arrived in an open-top car, a symbol of modernity, yet an omen of vulnerability. Their visit was meant to signify a mission of peace and solidarity.

The royal heir’s visit was an exhibit of imperial power: fluttering flags, military pomp and parade of brass bands. Even so as the Archduke’s motorcade advanced through the city, the ambience shifted from lively to apprehensive. Among the crowd of onlookers, stood a couple of young men, committed to the idea of a Greater Serbia. Among them was a 19-year-old Gavrilo Princip, a frail and resolute youth whose dreams of an unshackled Serbia had him gone astray.

The morning of June 28 unfurled like the tip of the iceberg. The first attempt on the Archduke’s life started at around 10:10 a.m., when a bomb thrown by one of Princip’s comrades and a member of the young Serbian nationalist movement, Nedeljko Cabrinovic, exploded behind the Archduke’s car, injuring the escorts but leaving the royal couple miraculously unscathed. The motorcade continued, and the royal couple insisted on visiting the wounded at the hospital. This decision, born out of compassion and nobility, unintentionally proved to be their ruin.

The Archduke instructed his driver, Leopold Lojka to drive to the hospital. In all fairness, the latter was unsure of the exact route, as a result of which he took a wrong turn onto another street. Tragically, for the royal couple and the rest of Europe, Gavrilo Princip, one of the co-conspirators of the earlier assassination attempt happened to be present on that very street. Princip noticed the motorcade arriving on his way, so he couldn’t let this hopeful prospect go and finish off what he and his mates had started earlier that day. Stepping forward, he fired two shots that echoed across continents and generations.

As the crowd tried to subdue Princip, the royal couple was left bleeding in the car. Of the two bullets, one struck the Archduke on his neck, the other on his wife Sophie’s stomach. Both passed away within an hour. The assassination acted as a cataclysmic event that initiated a series of confrontations and declarations which led the to a global conflict of unprecedented violence and devastation.

In the events that followed, Austria- Hungary sought support from Germany. With Germany’s acceptance, the former declares war on Serbia. Russia mobilized to defend Serbia, as a result of which Germany declared war on Russia. Russia’s ally France then mobilized their forces which led to Germany declaring war against France. Following this, Great Britain declared war against Germany. Austria- Hungary then declared war on Russia, and Serbia declared war against Germany. Consecutively, France and Great Britian collectively declared war against Austri- Hungary.

Mystifying right? And all of these happened just because of a wrong turn onto the wrong street.

The echoes of that fateful day in Sarajevo are a testament to the vulnerability of empires, tangled alliances and imperial ambitions, and the enduring consequences of human actions. In the silent moments of reflection, we are reminded of the fine line that stands between peace and havoc, and the profound impact that a single event can change the course of history forever.