Philippa Logan enjoys two books bringing fresh perspectives to the First World War

Clever title — the trigger that fired the shot, and the trigger that set in motion a series of events that led to the First World War. The assassin who pulled the trigger and killed Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo on June 28, 1914, was Gavrilo Princip, a young Bosnian Serb. At 19, he was just too young for the death penalty, and died in prison four years later.

Butcher investigates Princip’s background and retraces his short life from his village in the Balkans to Belgrade, and then to Sarajevo.

Butcher covered the Bosnian War for the Daily Telegraph in the mid-1990s and came across Princip’s ‘memorial’ — a small stone building that was being used as a makeshift lavatory. It was partly this desecration that inspired him to find out more about the man it commemorated.

Butcher’s book is a combination of research thesis, history book and travelogue. Thesis because it breaks a great deal of new ground: Butcher interviewed members of Princip’s family, and uncovered some enlightening school reports. History book because it is framed with the history of the Balkans at both ends of the 20th century. And travelogue, because the author travelled over Bosnian mountains and valleys, peppered with mines, making the same journey as Princip.

The result is a revealing insight into the mind and journey of the boy who escaped the narrow confines of his village, and whose political aspirations for his native country had such far-reaching effects on the world.

The tunic worn by Archduke Ferdinand on June 28, 1914, can still be seen, bloodstained and torn, in Vienna’s Military History Museum. It’s one of 100 fascinating objects that feature in A History of the First World War in 100 Objects by John Hughes-Wilson (Octopus Books, £30).

It’s not a novel idea to chart the history through selected objects, though it’s a good one, and this book is an excellent example.

Most of the objects in the book are in the Imperial War Museum in London, and include such varied items as a German button given to a British corporal on the Christmas Day truce in 1914; a tin of Armour ox tongue containing miniature equipment for escaping from prison camp; and a roll of Kaiser Bill toilet paper.

Each object comes with its associated story, and further photographs of events. Together, they build up an informative and fascinating book.

The Trigger
By Tim Butcher
Chatto & Windus, £18.99
Insight into the boy whose shot sparked the First World War