You're right that WWI was a war that never should have happened, but Franz Ferdinand was not a "Minor" Austrian Archduke, he was the Heir to the throne, and in a very real sense in that fractured and multi-ethnic country, the future of the country. Emperor Franz Joseph, Emperor since 1848 or so, was in a big sense the main thing holding the whole together; Targeting and Murdering the heir to Austria -Hungary threatened the future existence of the whole empire, which is what the Terrorists who murdered him were shooting for. Emperor Franz Joseph's son, Crown Prince Rudolf, had, sadly, committed suicide together with his mistress in 1888, and he was now an old man, (but a workaholic) so the succession issue to the throne was a really big issue.
Franz Ferdinand was actually a somewhat interesting guy. He married someone considered "beneath" his position for love, his beloved wife Sophie, which caused him an insane amount of problems at the time. He had very seriously discussed making the dual monarchy the tripartite monarchy (Austria-Hungary-Slav) which would have probably strengthened the whole, but would be a serious problem for Serbia and Serbian-Russian propaganda and nationalism; hence the Assassin's plan to kill not just anyone, but him specifically. In the end, they murdered him and his wife, Sophie, leaving their children orphans. Some people most certainly did miss him when he was gone!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archduke_F ... of_Austria
There was a National WWI memorial established, it's in Kansas City, where leaders of all the Allied Nations attended the huge gala dedication back in the 1920's. It's been restored and expanded, and is well worth a visit; their collections are wonderful!!! They just had a big special exhibit on the WWI German Machine Gunner.
For reasons too weird to fathom, we have memorials to stuff that happened in other countries overseas we were only involved in stopping, (The national Holocaust museum) but no National Museum of the US Army, No World War One Memorial on the National Mall, No Spanish American War memorial on the National Mall, and no Mexican War Memorial on the mall either, and we picked up states and territories with reps in DC in the last two! I firmly agree we should have a monument, or memorial on the mall for WWI, but I don't think we need to re-invent the National WWI Memorial and Museum we already have.
The National WWI Memorial and Museum:
http://www.theworldwar.org/s/110/new/in ... unity.aspx
They have some really cool stuff!!!! Well worth a visit if you're in the area. Be prepared that your kids may be shocked how much stuff is the same stuff you already have...
My daughter thought it was crazy that they had the German 1916 belt loader hanging in the air... she pointed out you can't use it like that at all!!!