"I very much doubt anyone at the time thought the killing of a minor European royal would lead to the death of 17 million people." I've seen that mistake made

"I very much doubt anyone at the time thought the killing of a minor European royal would lead to the death of 17 million people." I've seen that mistake made before, but coming from someone who claims knowledge of history, it is galling! Saying Archduke Franz Ferdinand was a minor royal is a tiny bit like saying that Edward, Prince of Wales, later King Edward VIII, was a minor royal. Franz Ferdinand was very likely going to be the next Emperor of Austria and King of Hungary. While heir presumptive to the throne might not be quite as good as being heir apparent, it's still far from being some kind of minor figure. Also, one influential Austrian statesman had been clamoring for war for quite some time. And he was held in check mostly by Franz Ferdinands opposition to his war plans. Not a feat to be accomplished by a nonentity. You couldn't have killed anyone better suited to finally kick off that war. It's absolutely true, though, that it kind of got out of hand.