how Europe's rulers were destroyed by the First World War
The assassination of the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne on June 28, 1914, led to the outbreak of World War I. At the end of the war, the Austro-Hungarian Empire had crumbled, and Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany and Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, had lost their power. The only monarchy remaining was Great Britain's King George V, a first cousin of both the Kaiser and the Tsar.
