Emperor Franz Josef I of Austria mb-code SF38087 with trees in the foreground

with trees in the foreground

indirect taxation had been quite substantially reduced

'Thomson's Lantern'

View with the Elephant and Castle Inn beyond

Emperor Franz Josef I of Austria mb-code SF38087 with trees in the foregroundEmperor 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