Emperor Franz Josef I of Austria mb-code 42-27077513 18th century (1885)

18th century (1885)

Also showing Ridaut's fencing academy

the Oxfordshire village where he had settled

Loughborough House

for desertion

Emperor Franz Josef I of Austria mb-code 42-27077513 18th century (1885)Emperor Franz Josef I of Austria, 23 July 1914. Acting on the advice of his foreign minister, Leopold von Berchtold, Franz Josef I (1830 1916) issued an ultimatum to Serbia following the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, Franz Josef's nephew and heir, in Sarajevo. The ultimatum was rejected as unacceptable by the Serbs, prompting Austria to declare war and setting in motion a chain of events that would plunge Europe into the First World War