Wiesner, the Austro-Hungarian official who was assigned to investigate the killing reported: "there was nothing to prove or even to cause suspicion of the Serbian government's cognizance of the steps leading to the crime" Massie, 1991, p. 868). Based on information that surfaced in the 1920's, Goodspeed said that the Serbian Cabinet and agents of the Russian secret service, and possibly the Russian Minister of War, had foreknowledge of the plot (Goodspeed, 1968, p. 115). Lafore concurred that the Serbian government probably knew of it (Lafore, 1965, p. 205). French historian Tapie and British naval historian Massie maintained that the Serbian government was not directly involved (Tapie, 1971, p. 372; Massie, 1991, p. 860). The Serbian archives have never been opened, but circumstantial evidence of high level official awareness in Serbia of the plot is strong. The Archduke, who would have become Emperor on the death of 84 year old Franz Joseph, favored schemes which would allow Serbia to participate in the Empire. His death served the Serbian aim which was to create a "Yugoslav commonwealth embracing all South Slavs" (Taylor, 1963, p. 127). With Russian support, Serbia had repeatedly after 1903 used violent methods to undermine the position of Austria -Hungary in southeast Europe (Goodspeed, 1968, pp. 59 and 108).
In the decade preceding 1914, Serbia and Austria-Hungary were on a collision course. As the Ottoman Empire disintegrated in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, irredentist ethnic nationalism seethed throughout the Balkans. Serbia's aggressive promotion of the cause of South Slav unification threatened the political stability and integrity of the polyglot, multi-
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