The main reason for World War I to start was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, in Sarajevo on June 28, Many disputes arose from the event. This leading to the war. After the war had ended monarchies collapsed in Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Russia. In 1919, the Versailles peace treaty demanded that Germany pay reparations.

The first World War, left most of countries in Europe in economic depression. This allowed dictators, Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler to gain control of most of European countries such as Italy and Germany. The arguments over the territory between these two countries caused world war II to begin. The Holocaust was the main horror during the war. Where over 6 million Jews were viciously murdered by the German Nazis leaders. World War II left Europe divided and ruined. Which caused the Cold War to begin.

The Cold War started not long after the second World War ended. The power struggle between the Soviet Union and The United States left most of the European countries divided, including Germany. Eastern Germany was for communism and Western Germany supported democracy. The Berlin Wall was built in the 1960s’ because of all the people from East Germany trying to cross over to the west part of the country. The Cold War’s communism allowed most countries to recover from the two world wars before. Finally in 1990 the Berlin was demolished and the country was united.

The European union was born not long after the Berlin Wall was demolished (around the 1990s’), their main goal was to reunite Europe so that trading goods, people, and a central bank and common currency would be able to replace each countries' separate currency.

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