10 Facts About the Sarajevo Assassination That Triggered WWI

10 Facts About the Sarajevo Assassination That Triggered WWI

Maria - June 28, 2016

4. The motorcar used by Franz Ferdinand and his wife belonged to Count Franz von Harrach

10 Facts About the Sarajevo Assassination That Triggered WWI

Count Franz von Harrach was a military officer stationed in Bosnia and was a member of the Graf and Stift Company. Graf and Stift Company was an Austrian firm founded in 1897 by the brothers Franz, Heinrich, and Karl Gräf. Manufacturing automobiles, trucks, buses and trolleybuses, the company originally started as a bicycle repair company and later was building luxury automobiles for a prestigious clientele including the members of the Austrian Imperial Court.

In 1914, Count Franz von Harrach offered the car to Franz Ferdinand and his wife when the couple visited Sarajevo. It was a brand-new six-seat, open touring car. Powered by a 32-horsepower 4-cylinder engine, the car was shaft-driven, with four-speed gearboxes and power units with T-head cylinders cast in blocks of two and then joined together. Astonishingly, those who owned the car after the horrific moment were involved in a series of ghastly road accidents and head-on collisions. In the end, thirteen people who used the car died.

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