The Shots That Triggered World War 1

   It was 100 years ago tomorrow, June 28 1914, an event in Sarajevo changed the history of the world, and triggered the 5th bloodiest conflict in human history.
   Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand:

   And his wife, Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg:

   Were assassinated in their open top car by Bosnian Serb Gavrilo Princip.

   Even though there were many other factors involved in the events leading up to the conflict, their deaths on that Sunday in June, 1914 lead to the declaration of war by Austria-Hungary a month later on July 28, which quickly spiralled into what was known at the time as the Great War.
   Canada, as part of the British Empire, entered the conflict August 4th when war was declared by Britain. By the time the war ended November 11, 1918 at least 60 thousand Canadian military personnel had been killed, and 150 thousand wounded. From what I've been able to determine, a soldier named H.G Bellinger, killed in January 1915, was the first Canadian to die.
   A total of between 8.2 and 10.7 military personnel on all sides were killed, and as many as 23.6 million wounded. It's been said that there was one military death every 15 seconds for the duration of the war. As many as 5 million civilians also died.
   As for the man who's shots June 28, 1914 lit the final fuse, Gavrilo Princip, he escaped the death penalty for the assassination, being 27 days short of the 20 year age limit, and was sentenced to 20 years in prison. He did not survive to see the end of the war, dying of T.B on April 28 1918, 3 years and 10 months to the day after the assassinations.
   The legacy of the war lives on to this day, especially in Belgium, where up to 80 tons of unexploded ordnance is found and destroyed from both wars every year. Officials say it could take 300 years to clear the old battlefields completely.
   It was 7 years ago in 2007, Canada's Vimy Memorial from the First War was rededicated on the 90th anniversary of the battle.

   Lest we forget.