Impact of Franz Ferdinand assassination

This is a role play and chronology lesson for KS3, possibly KS4.
Students are assigned a country to play the part of. These are differentiated as resources, but also within each resource: weaker students read about Austria and Serbia, middling students can have Germany and Russia and more able students can have France and Britain. Students are shown the July Crisis unfolding on the powerpoint. They must decide what they would feel, advise or actually do on each of the 6 dates / events shown. There are many opportunities for class discussion through the exercise, as students can be asked what they feel so far, whether they have taken any actions or merely advised one action or other to their allies.
There is a seperate worksheet for students who would not react well to the role play aspect.
As an extension, (more able?) students can explain whether their country triggered war, willingly went to war or were dragged unwillingly to war.
The second activity is a chronology activity to decide what order events happened in as countries slid to war. Students look at 12 events and decide the order in which they happened. This can be done as a card sort or numbering activity. Answers can be shown later on the powerpoint. Students can also be asked whether Franz Ferdinand’s murder simply brought forward a war than was inevitable at some point.