The Trigger cover art

The Trigger

 Preview
LIMITED TIME OFFER

3 months free
Try for £0.00
£8.99/mo thereafter. Renews automatically. Terms apply. Offer ends 31 July 2025 at 23:59 GMT.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for £8.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly.

The Trigger

By: Tim Butcher
Narrated by: Tim Butcher
Try for £0.00

£8.99/mo after 3 months. Offer ends 31 July 2025 23:59 GMT. Cancel monthly.

Buy Now for £16.99

Buy Now for £16.99

Confirm Purchase
Pay using card ending in
Switch payment method
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.
Cancel

About this listen

On a summer morning in Sarajevo a hundred years ago, a teenage assassin fired not just the opening shots of the First World War but the starting gun for modern history. By killing Archduke Franz Ferdinand, Gavrilo Princip triggered conflict that would claim millions of lives in battle, and turmoil that would change our world. Tim Butcher uncovers the unreported details of Princip’s life and draws on his own experience, as a war reporter in the Balkans in the 1990s, to face down ghosts of conflicts past and present. The Trigger is a rich and timely work that brings to life both the moment the world first went to war and an extraordinary region with a potent hold over history.

©2014 Tim Butcher (P)2014 W F Howes Ltd 20th Century Europe Military Modern Political Science Politics & Government War Imperialism Middle Ages Africa Middle East

Listeners also enjoyed...

 Chasing the Devil cover art
Blood River cover art
The Faithful Scribe cover art
Chasing Utopia cover art
Children of the Stone cover art
Night Draws Near cover art
Goodbye, Vietnam cover art
Stones into Schools cover art
In Manchuria cover art
Never Remember cover art
The Phoenix Years cover art
The Last Englishmen cover art
My House in Damascus cover art
Trail of Hope cover art
The People's Republic of Amnesia cover art
Frontline cover art

Critic reviews

"An exploration of the life of the teenager who killed Archduke Franz Ferdinand, and so triggered the First World War"
"A remarkable, fascinating book by a courageous and perceptive writer" (Alexander McCall Smith) on (Blood River)
"Quite superb… a masterpiece" (John Le Carre)
All stars
Most relevant  
I absolutely loved this book, obviously because of the subject matter but because Tim brought his whole journey of Princip to life. A book like this demands a certain storytelling & Tim Butcher has that in spades. The right author, the right subject, the right time. Really enjoyed this, a cracking wee book.

What a great book

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Well written and well read , gives you the when and the why ,and shows the long term effects of the actions of one man.

Enlightening

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Really interesting listen, swinging back and forward through the 20th century and into the 21st. The only frustration for me was the hurried narration and I had to listen 0.85 to tolerate it.

Great tale but the narrator grates a little

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.