TODAY IN HISTORY

|WORLD WAR I|

Final moments: The Archduke of Austria Franz Ferdinand with his wife Sophie in Sarajevo minutes before his shooting (AP)

On June 28, 1914, Gavrilo Princip, a Bosnian Serb, assassinated Archduke Francis Ferdinand of Austria and his wife Sofia in Sarajevo, setting off a chain of events that would culminate in a world war by August. Five years later, on June 28, 1919, Germany and the Allies signed the Treaty of Versailles, formally ending World War I and providing for the creation of the League of Nations. It may come as a surprise to many, but Nigerian soldiers also participated in the war by fighting in the West African Divisions alongside soldiers from Sierra Leone and Ghana.

West African troops on service in East Africa after the British attacked the German colonies there

The Nigerian regiment saw action in the Cameroons from 1914 to 1916 and in German East Africa from 1916 to 1918.

Gavrilo Princip

19-year-old Bosnian Serb, Gavrilo Princip, the man who assassinated the Archduke of Austria and his wife, was one of many angry young men wanting to free his country from the control of Austria-Hungary.