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How World War I began, in one quick video

Zack Beauchamp is a senior correspondent at Vox, where he covers ideology and challenges to democracy, both at home and abroad. Before coming to Vox in 2014, he edited TP Ideas, a section of Think Progress devoted to the ideas shaping our political world.

Austro-Hungarian Archduke Franz Ferdinand's assassination, in Sarajevo 100 years ago, kicked off World War I. His killer, Gavrilo Princip, was a Bosnian nationalist looking to punish the Austo-Hungarian Empire for occupying his homeland. These four minute video shows you exactly how he did it.

As British television historian Dan Snow entertainingly explains, Princip wasn't acting alone. He was part of a team of assassins laid out throughout the city, most of whom had failed before Princip took his fatal shot at the heir to Austro-Hungarian throne:


This awesome GIF breaks the story of the assassination down into a few quick frames:

Franzassassinationloop

Joss Fong

For an explanation of how the Archduke's murder caused the First World War, see here. And for a comprehensive list of 40 maps that explain World War I, check this out.

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