The assassination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand on June 28, 1918, in Sarajevo, Bosnia (later Yugoslavia) by Gavrilo Princip. This assassination set in motion a number of diplomatic manuevers in Europe that resulted in the beginning of World War I. The assassination of Grigori Rasputin on December 30, 1916. A Russian monk, Rasputin was killed by a group of right-wing patriots after he rose to political power and challenged the authority of the Czar. Czar Nicholas II, killed on July 16, 1918. Corruption and scandal during his reign in Russia eventually led to the shooting deaths of him and his family by the revolutionary Bolsheviks at Ekaterinberg. Vladimir Lenin, Russian revolutionary. An attempt on his life was made after he became involved with the Bolsheviks, who were trying to overthrow the imperialist Russian government. The attempt was not successful. Lenin is also credited for being the instigator for the attempts and eventual assassination of Leon Trotsky. Leon Trotsky, killed on August 20, 1940 by Ramon Mercador del Rio near Mexico City. A former Russian revolutionary and war commissioner, Trotsky was exiled by Stalin in 1928. During his exile he advocated for a program of world revolution that would result in pure communism and challenge the power of Stalin in Russia. His assassin was possibly a Stalinist agent but that was never proven. He was, however, convicted of the crime and sentenced to 20 years in a Mexican prison. Adolf Hitler, Chancellor of Germany 1933-1945. An attempt was made on his life in 1944 by several of his trusted aides. However, Hitler escaped a bomb explosion with some injury and summarily killed all of the conspirators. His survival of this attempt only
