The Trigger: The Hunt for Gavrilo Princip - the Assassin Who Brought the World to War
Tim Butcher
‘The most original of First World War centenary books; it is a travel narrative of rare resonance and insight’ Sunday Times
On a summer morning in 1914, a teenage assassin fired the starting gun for modern history.
It was a young teenage boy named Gavrilo Princip who fired that fateful shot which killed Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo and ultimately ignited World War War. A hundred years later, Tim Butcher undertakes an extraordinary journey to uncover the story of this unknown boy who changed our world forever. By retracing Princip’s journey from his highland birthplace, through the mythical valleys of Bosnia to the fortress city of Belgrade and ultimately Sarajevo, he illuminates our understanding both of Princip and the places that shaped him while uncovering details about Princip which have eluded historians for more than a century.
‘A masterpiece of historical empathy and evocation...This book is a tour de force’ Guardian
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About Tim Butcher
Reviews for The Trigger: The Hunt for Gavrilo Princip - the Assassin Who Brought the World to War
Dominic Sandbrook, Sunday Times
Superb... Highly readable but profoundly researched
Ben Macintyre
The Times, Books of the Year
A triumph… A marvellously absorbing book on the nature of one man’s political grievance and its terrible aftermath
Ian Thomson
Observer Books of the Year
The most imaginative and singular book on the centenary of the outbreak of the First World War to date... This is expeditionary journalism at its best – a historical inquest radiated through the mind and experience of an outstanding reporter
Robert Fox
Evening Standard
A masterpiece of historical empathy and evocation... This book is a tour de force
Christopher Clark
Guardian
A fascinating study of one of those rare individuals whose act of violence changed the history of the world. An incisive, shrewd, wholly compelling investigation of an assassin’s life and times
William Boyd A fabulous book that all First World War historians will now have to take account of… Superb
Saul David A splendid book. It takes its place among classics of Balkan history
Norman Stone Tim Butcher goes from strength to strength. I enjoyed every paragraph
Dervla Murphy Insightful, useful and delightfully written… A great book – one to be recommended to professional and amateur historian alike
General Sir David Richards, former Chief of the Defence Staff