On this day, 110 years ago, the small town of Bad Ischl made its mark in history as the venue for Austria declaring war on Serbia in what eventually led to World War I (“the great seminal catastrophe of the 20th century” – George F. Kennan). A month earlier, Emperor (or Kaiser) Franz Joseph’s nephew and heir presumptive to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, and his wife Sophie, were assassinated while on a state visit to Sarajevo, Bosnia.
The devastating news was delivered to the Habsburg emperor while he was holidaying at Kaiservilla, the royal family’s summer residence located in Bad Ischl. While he briefly returned to the capital Vienna to brief his government ministers, he left the decision-making to them and returned to Bad Ischl to continue enjoying the summer weather, the magnificent forested hunting grounds of the Kaiservilla, and the health-giving qualities of the spa waters of the town (bad is the German word for spa). In the ensuing weeks, the Austro-Hungarian government drew up a list of demands that they knew Serbia would be unable to fulfil, thus giving them the legal right to declare war.
These demands were delivered on July 23, and – as expected – the Serbian reply was deemed unsatisfactory. So, on July 28, 1914 the Austro-Hungarian Emperor signed the declaration of war from his official work desk in the Kaiservilla. My recollection of high school history is rudimentary at best, so I was delighted to be reminded of all this re.