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 Karl of Austria Archduke Franz Karl of Austria Archduke Franz Karl Joseph of Austria (17 December 1802 – 8 March 1878) was a member of the House of Habsburg. He was the father of two emperors: Franz Joseph I of Austria and Maximilian I of Mexico. Through his third son Karl Ludwig, he was the grandfather of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria – whose assassination sparked the hostilities that led to the outbreak of World War I – and the great-grandfather of the last Habsburg emperor Karl I. Franz Karl was born in Vienna, the third son of Emperor Francis II (I) by