1914: Day by Day Cartoons: Steve Bell

Twelve British cartoonists and graphic artists have responded to the events that happened across the world as the world was heading to war one hundred years ago.

The dying Archduke said: "Sophie! Don't die! Stay alive for or children!" 

His aide: "Is your Imperial Highness suffering very badly?". 

Franz Ferdinand, dying said "It's nothing" several times.

Sophie was already dead. 

His children would never inherit the crown as their mother was a commoner. 

28 June 1914


Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, is visiting Sarajevo. It's the final day of his trip to Bosnia. There have been complaints about lax security... He and his wife Sophie get into their open touring car. Serbia is still furious about Austria-Hungary’s annexation of Bosnia… Among the crowds along the route are six armed men, among them a thin intense 19 year old called Gavrilo Princip. The imperial visit has been in the news for months – enough time to smuggle weapons across the border from Serbia.

The first attempt on the Archduke comes at 10.15 as his car goes along the riverside… His advisers urge him to leave Sarajevo at once but he insists on going to see his injured aide at the hospital. The car sets off back along the riverside, but the chauffeur turns into the wrong street. The car’s owner, Count von Harach is on the running board... Gunshots ring out, killing both the Archduke and Archduchess… It is just after 11am. Europe's great crisis has started.