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Bosnia. Guided by Danilo Ilic, they intended to kill the archduke on June 28, 1914, as he toured
the city in an open-topped car.
While the first two assassins failed to act when Franz Ferdinand's car passed by, the third threw
bomb which bounced off the vehicle. Undamaged, the archduke's car sped away while the
assassin was captured by the crowd. The remainder of Ilic's team was unable to take action. After
attending an event at the town hall, the archduke's motorcade resumed. One of the assassins,
Gavrilo Princip, stumbled across the motorcade as he exited a shop near the Latin Bridge.
Approaching, he drew a gun and shot both Franz Ferdinand and Sophie. Both died a short time
later.
War Declared
On July 24, with the deadline looming, most of Europe awoke to severity of the situation. While
the Russians asked for the deadline to be extended or the terms altered, the British suggested a
conference be held to prevent war. Shortly before the deadline on July 25, Serbia replied that it
would accept nine of the terms with reservations, but that it could not allow the Austrian
authorities to operate in their territory. Judging the Serbian response to be unsatisfactory, the
Austrians immediately broke off relations. While the Austrian army began to mobilize for war,
the Russians announced a pre-mobilization period known as Period Preparatory to War." While
the foreign ministers of the Triple Entente worked to prevent war, Austria-Hungary began
massing its troops. In the face of this, Russia increased support for its small, Slavic ally. At 11:00
AM on July 28, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia. That same day Russia ordered a
mobilization for the districts bordering Austria-Hungary. As Europe moved towards a larger
conflict, Nicholas opened communications with Wilhelm in an effort to prevent the situation
from escalating.