Did you ever think one shot could change the world? If you’re an American, you might be thinking “of course, it was the ‘shot heard round the world’ in Lexington and Concord that marked the beginning of the American Revolution.” If you’re not an American, you might be thinking, “Americans need to stop assuming everything is about them.”

Well, today’s story goes far beyond America’s borders. Because as it turns out, it is possible for a shot to change the world. In fact, it was one shot, not too long ago, that set the whole world on fire.

This is The Shot that Burned the World. It is the shot I have made for you, based on the infamous assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg, which sent the world spiraling into World War I. It is made of four ingredients: Irish cream, yellow chartreuse, Serbian plum brandy, and 151 proof rum.

The world as it was prior to WWI seems almost foreign to the modern person. Monarchies still ruled, empires still reigned, and the shadows of medieval times still permeated society (peasants were still a thing after all). And we’re not talking about cultural figureheads here. The governments in the United Kingdom, Russia, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Italy were all actively ruled by monarchs. Imperial figures were on the landscape as well. Franz Joseph I of the Hapsburg line ruled the Austro-Hungarian empire, and Mehmed V ruled the Ottoman Empire.

But it was this war, WWI—the war to end all wars, (which has ironically led to most wars since 1918) that caused the very institutions that once survived the test of centuries to melt away into the pages of history, leaving the world forever changed. How did it happen? What sparked the war that left millions dead and millions more injured?

To answer that question, we have to look at the situation in the Balkans in the early 1900s. In Belgrade, the capital of Serbia, nationalist sentiments had been festering for years and dissatisfaction with the king was rapidly increasing. So, in the early morning hours of June 11, 1903, Serbian nationalists enacted a regime change and assassinated King Alexander Obrenovic and his wife, Draga Mašin. There ending the rule of the Ottoman-leaning Obrenovic family and placing exiled King Peter Karadjordjevic on the throne.

The Serbian nationalists wanted one thing: a greater, unified Serbia, consisting of the land that later became Yugoslavia after WWII. They were tired of being between the crosshairs of powers such as Bulgaria, the Ottoman Empire, and the Austro-Hungarian empire. They wanted full autonomy, and they knew the only way to get it was through a Russian backed campaign. Without the support of one of the leading world powers, there would be no way the nationalists could accomplish their mission.

But a problem arose.

Austria-Hungary had annexed Bosnia and Herzegovina after years of occupation. Having a large number of Serbians living under the rule of another great power in Europe certainly hampered the plans for Serbian unification. And as Russia was not keen on taking on another major power in war just for Serbia, the radical nationalists, called the Black Hand and led by Dragutin Dimitrijevic (AKA Apis), got to work.

Learning that the heir to the Austrian throne, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, was coming to Sarajevo on June 28th, the Black Hand made their plans to move. June 28th was an important date for Serbians. It was on that day in 1389 that Serbia had fought back against the invading Ottoman empire and both their leader, Prince Lazar, and the Turkish Sultan, Murat, perished in the battle. It was a day of Serbian national pride. In 1914, it was also the day that Archduke Ferdinand, a man who embodied their current servitude to the Austro-Hungarian empire, came to their city.

Mind you, while it is difficult to gather much information on the plot to assassinate the Archduke due to the Black Hand’s making every possible effort to cover their tracks and block the link back to Belgrade, what we do know is that the whole plan… was kind of a disaster. It’s actually amazing we went to war at all, and don’t worry I’ll tell you all about that later.

For now, let’s focus on that fateful day, when the assassins rose and attacked the Archduke’s motorcade, and a young man named Gavrilo Princip shot once, and killed both the Archduke and his wife. The outrage that followed quickly escalated on many fronts, the dominoes fell, and the world went to war.

Believe it or not, that is actually a very short version of events, but I think it’s time we get to our drink.

I wanted this shot to sort-of mimic the look of the battlefields that tore across Europe in the conflict following the assassination. I specifically think of the fields of Passchendaele with the mud and mustard gas. So that’s the look we’re going for. With our shot glass ready we will first pour in our base of Irish Cream. It’s gray, brown hue makes me think of the mud in the trenches.

We follow that up by floating yellow chartreuse till it’s nearly halfway full. This chartreuse is French in origin. The French lost so many men in the war, it practically broke the spirit of the military. The yellow color of the liquor makes me think of the mustard gas that was fired into the trenches and brought many men to a horrifying end.

Next, we follow it up with Serbian plum brandy. After all it is the Serbians that knocked down the first domino in this epic tragedy. At 50% this liquor hits hard but it leaves a nice plum aftertaste. I’m using the brand Bistra Slivovitz. You can probably find it online, but I found it at Total Wine.

Finally, we top the shot off with 151 proof rum. Because this is the shot that burned the world, we need a spirit that can be set on fire and at 75% this certainly will. Last, we take our lighter, and fire. There you have it: the shot that burned the world. It is ominous and I think really looks like a battlefield. Well, let’s extinguish the flame and try it.