Chapters 20, 21 and 22 Summary and Analysis

Chapter 20: Heil Wien! Heil Berlin!

In 1914, Elisabeth was fourteen years old and Gisela was ten. Elisabeth was a serious young girl who was allowed to eat dinner with the grownups. Gisela was a pretty little girl who, like her mother, loved clothes. Iggie was nine and a little chubby. On June 28, 1914, the Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Hapsburg Empire, was assassinated in Sarajevo by a Serbian national. The murder led to Austria's declaration of war against Serbia a month later. Soon after, Germany declared war on Russia and conflicts broke out all over Europe. It was the beginning of World War I. Emmy sought the support of one of her lovers, the Austrian Consul General, to help her get her children and servants back to Vienna from their summer retreat. There was support for the War in Vienna...