The Guns of August Addressed is prewar military planning, as done by the major powers in Europe. Included are the German Schlieffen plan, France's offensive Plan XVII, joint British and French arrangements, and Russia's approach to a future European war. "Outbreak" starts with a short introduction, which briefly mentions the event that triggered World War I. On June 28, 1914, in Sarajevo, Gavrilo Princip, a Serbian nationalist, assassinated the heir apparent to the throne of Austria-Hungary, the Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg. European-wide diplomacy and military preparations during July are then referenced. Chapters 6 to 9 commence with August
Austria-Este and the present heir is Franz, Duke of Bavaria. However, Francis V had decided to retain the Este name in the Habsburg family, and left most of his huge estate to his young cousin Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, with certain conditions, one of which is that the heir and future heirs use the name of Este. The non-territorial property of the Este family thus fell to the line of Archduke Charles Louis, younger brother to then Emperor Francis Joseph, Austria-Este then becoming a sort of "secundogeniture" title within the Austrian imperial family. Although the first heir, Archduke Franz Ferdinand