Kaiser Franz Joseph I-class cruiser period, "Kaiserin Elisabeth" was mobilized twice during the Balkan Wars, while "Kaiser Franz Joseph"s crew were deployed to protect Shanghai during the Xinhai Revolution. In 1913, the cruisers were ordered to rotate duties one final time, with "Kaiserin Elisabeth" going to China, and "Kaiser Franz Joseph I" returning to Austria-Hungary in 1914. The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand on 28 June 1914 in Sarajevo triggered a chain of events which led to the July Crisis and Austria-Hungary's subsequent declaration of war on Serbia on 28 July. Events unfolded rapidly in the ensuing days. On 30 July 1914 Russia declared full
Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria employed a staff of sixteen. His authority was reinforced in 1907 when he secured the retirement of the Emperor's confidant Friedrich von Beck-Rzikowsky as Chief of the General Staff. Beck's successor, Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf, was personally selected by Franz Ferdinard. Franz in 1913, as heir-presumptive to the elderly emperor, had been appointed inspector general of all the armed forces of Austria-Hungary ("Generalinspektor der gesamten bewaffneten Macht"), a position superior to that previously held by Archduke Albrecht and including presumed command in wartime. In 1894 Franz Ferdinand met Countess Sophie Chotek, a lady-in-waiting to Archduchess Isabella, wife of Archduke Friedrich,