World War I began after the assassination of Austrian archduke Franz Ferdinand by South Slav nationalist Gavrilo Princip on June 28, 1914. Read more about Franz Ferdinand. Read more about why the Balkans became the “powder keg of Europe.”
WWI was a very big cause of WWII. WWI led to depressions in Germany, Italy, the Soviet Union, and many more places which in turn caused powerful people to rise in many different countries. These countries in which a person of power rose each had some part in the start of WWII.
