why was franz ferdinand assassinated

Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated because he was heir presumptive to the Austro-Hungarian throne, and the assassination was carried out by Gavrilo Princip, a Bosnian Serb nationalist. The political motive behind the assassination was to free Bosnia and Herzegovina from Austro-Hungarian rule and to help establish a South Slav (Yugoslav) state independent of Austria- Hungary. Princip and his co-conspirators belonged to a revolutionary group called Young Bosnia and were supported by the Serbian secret society Black Hand, which aimed to promote Serbian nationalist goals. This assassination was part of a larger nationalist struggle and became the immediate catalyst for World War I, as it triggered Austria-Hungary's declaration of war on Serbia.