Editing Franz Joseph I of Austria (section)

==Outbreak of World War I==
{{Main|July Crisis}}
[[File:Map Europe alliances 1914-en.svg|thumb|240px|Rival military coalitions in 1914: {{legend|#83be58|[[Triple Entente]]}}{{legend|#b0a336|[[Triple Alliance (1882)|Triple Alliance]]}}.]]

On 28 June 1914, Franz Joseph's nephew and heir presumptive [[Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria|Archduke Franz Ferdinand]], and his [[morganatic marriage|morganatic]] wife [[Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg]], were [[Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria|assassinated]] by [[Gavrilo Princip]], a Yugoslav nationalist of Serbian ethnicity,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Dejan Djokić |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZMyZdvTympMC |title=Yugoslavism: Histories of a Failed Idea, 1918–1992 |date=January 2003 |publisher=C. Hurst & Co. Publishers |isbn=978-1-85065-663-0 |page=24}}</ref> during a visit to Sarajevo. Franz Joseph learned about the assassination of Franz Ferdinand from his adjutant, cavalry General [[Eduard von Paar]],<ref name=":1" /> who also wrote the emperor's reaction in his diary: "one has not to defy the Almighty. In this manner a superior power has restored that order which I unfortunately was unable to maintain."<ref name=":1">Albert Freiherr von Margutti: Vom alten Kaiser. Leipzig & Wien 1921, S. 147f. Zitiert nach Erika Bestenreiter: Franz Ferdinand und Sophie von Hohenberg. München (Piper), 2004, S. 247</ref>

While the emperor was shaken, and interrupted his holiday to return to Vienna, he soon resumed his vacation at his [[Kaiservilla]] at [[Bad Ischl]]. Initial decision-making during the "July Crisis" fell to Count [[Leopold Berchtold]], the Austrian foreign minister; Count [[Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf]], the chief of staff for the [[Common Army|Austro-Hungarian army]] and the other ministers.{{sfn|Palmer|1994|p=328}} The ultimate resolution of deliberations by the Austro-Hungarian government during the weeks following the assassination of the Archduke was to give Serbia [[July Crisis#Austro-Hungarian ultimatum|an ultimatum]] of itemized demands with which it was virtually certain Serbia would be unable or unwilling to comply, thus serving as a "legal basis for war".

A week after delivery of the Austro-Hungarian ultimatum to Serbia; on 28 July, war was declared. Within weeks, the Germans, Russians, French and British had all entered the fray which eventually became known as [[World War I]]. On 6 August, Franz Joseph signed the declaration of war against Russia.