The three had a memorable sitting.

Some time afterwards the results were given to the world.
Tolstoy predicted the great war, and he stated his belief that the torch which would start the conflagration would be lighted in the Balkans about 1913.
Tolstoy was not a friend of either Russian or German autocracy, hence his seance may have been but a clever ruse to discover what was in the minds of the two rulers.

Germany probably was not ready to start the war in 1913, but there is abundant warrant for the belief that she was trimming the torch at that time, and, who knows, the deluded Prinzip may have been the torch.
The old dotard Francis Joseph who occupied the throne of Austria-Hungary, was completely under the domination of the Germans.

He could be relied upon to further any designs which the Kaiser and the German war lords might have.
The younger man, Francis Ferdinand, was not so easy to handle as his aged uncle.

Accounts agree that he was arrogant, ambitious and had a will of his own.