Would WW1 still have happened if Franz Ferdinand was not assasinated? If not, why?

World War One was virtually inevitable. The assassination
of Franz Ferdinand and his wife only lit a fuse which was waiting to be ignited. The
assassination itself did not cause the war; the underlying events were already in
place.

The series of alliances in Europe, primarily the
Triple Alliance and the Triple Entente, had created tension across Europe. Additionally,
the rise of nationalist sentiments, which did not always correspond with political
boundaries, was a significant issue. Under the terms of the Berlin Conference of 1878
(called to prevent a European war over African territories) Austria-Hungary, then a dual
monarchy, was given the right to "administer and occupy" Bosnia and Herzegovina without
regard to the wishes or cultural nature of the people of those areas. In 1905, they were
formally annexed into Austria. Tensions led to a series of minor wars in the Balkans in
which Austria intervened, thereby increasing
tensions.

Outside the Balkans, there was rising concern
over the expansion of Germany's military, particularly its navy which stood to challenge
the British navy's supremacy of the Atlantic. There was resentment toward Great Britain
because of the Boer War in Africa, and resentment in France toward Germany because of
France's humilation in the Franco-Prussian War. If one adds to this mixture the growing
rivalry for empire and commercial markets between European powers and the bungling of
Kaiser Wilhelm II who not only fired Bismarck (who might have kept the lid on things)
but also made a number of intemperate remarks which infuriated the British; one can see
that the outbreak of the war was only a matter of time. That time came with the
assassination of Ferdinand and Sophie.