 The consensus of scholars includes scant mention of Russia, and briefly mentions Russia's defense of Orthodox Serbia, its pan-Slavic roles, its treaty obligations with France, and its concern for protecting it status as a great power.The Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austro-Hungary was assassinated by Bosnian Serbs on 28 June 1914 to protest Austrian takeover of a largely Slavic province.Vienna was unable to find evidence that Serbia had sponsored the assassination but a month later issued an ultimatum to Serbia, which it knew would be rejected and thus lead to war.