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
Nicholas II of Russia wife, Queen Mary. In February 1913, Nicholas presided over the tercentenary celebrations for the Romanov Dynasty. On 21 February, a "Te Deum" took place at Kazan Cathedral, and a state reception at the Winter Palace. In May, Nicholas and the imperial family made a pilgrimage across the empire, retracing the route down the Volga River that was made by the teenage Michael Romanov from the Ipatiev Monastery in Kostroma to Moscow in 1613 when he finally agreed to become tsar. On 28 June 1914 Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, was assassinated by a Bosnian Serb