Thesis
Europe in 1914 was an interwoven network of alliances, in which a fragile peace was maintained atop a delicately balanced framework of competitive international interests. On June 28th, the assassination of the unpopular heir to the Austrian throne, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, was perceived as the casus belli between Austria-Hungary and Serbia. However, the intertwined nature of European affairs prevented a localized war; and as each government seized the opportunity to either build or defend its interests and political power, an inconsequential Balkan crisis was transformed into the catalyst to world war.
Franz Ferdinand, lying in state after the assassination