Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Book Preview: #1 The train that transported the Orient Express passengers left from the Gare de l'Est just after 18:30 every Tuesday evening. The train's sixteen elegant wagon-lits were pulled by a steam-powered locomotive. The train's attitude of optimism was widespread in the early twentieth century. #2 The Orient Express crossed the French frontier at Strasbourg, and passengers could see the snow-fields of the northern Alps reflected in the sky, pink and pastel, gashed by gold. #3 The cause of the First World War was the assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife, Sophie, in Sarajevo on June 28, 1914. Their murder was an accident, but their nationalististic motives were clear. #4 The assassination of Franz Ferdinand was an insult to the honor of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire, and it was both a threat and a promise of war. The Austro-Hungarian government considered the assassination an insult to its honor and a threat to its security

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