The murder of Archduke Francis Ferdinand, heir to the throne, and his wife during a visit at Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia, however, changed immediately Austria-Hungary's attitude toward Serbia. Like one man the country rose and demanded the punishment of the murderers and of the nation which, it was claimed, had planned and financed the murder, Serbia. Racial differences and dissensions of long standing were forgotten and forgiven over night, as it were, and a country, more solidified than at any other period in its history, stood behind its Emperor Francis Joseph, a man who throughout his life of more than eighty years--of which more than three-fourths were spent on the throne--had suffered all the disappointments and sorrows that can come to a man, but had never lost the trust and love of his subjects. CHAPTER III RUSSIA In the middle of the nineteenth century the Russian Empire, in spite of its vast extent and resources, played a comparatively negligible part in international politics. To a certain extent this was the result of the Crimean War. But still more was it due to the internal difficulties which were so many and so serious that they kept the empire fully occupied for a considerable period. This condition is easily understood if we remember that at that time of all the great European nations Russia was the least developed, the least advanced, and the least modernized. The many reforms instituted at that time contributed their share in changing this condition and resulted in bringing the Russian Empire rapidly to the forefront of European nations. With the details of the reforms we are not concerned, but as their actual accomplishment had an important bearing on Russia's future activities in the field of world politics it will be well to state that they consisted chiefly of five great measures: the emancipation of the serfs; the institution of the zemstvos or county councils; trial by jury; regulation of the public press; and reorganization of the army. Some of these reforms were instituted by the government only after public opinion had made such a course inevitable, and of the history of this entire period it may well be said that it was written in the very lifeblood of the Russian people. Two forces continuously combated each other; on one side were the large masses of the people, on the other the ruling classes. The former it is true were not always in solid union and, indeed, more frequently left the burden of fighting their cause to a small group of intellectuals. Their demands in many instances were unreasonable, but the ruling classes were just as unreasonable in their attitude, and the result was a period of terrorism during which assassination of officials abounded and even the life of the emperor was threatened a number of times.