Important Figure #1

My first important figure of this time period is...

After the assassination of the Archduke

Gavrilo Princip
Although an unexpected choice as an important person, Gavrilo Princip is at the top of my list of important figures in WWI. Had I needed the three most influential, or the three most important leaders, Princip would not be one of my choices. But, because I needed an important, significant person, Gavrilo Princip made the cut. Princip was a member of the Black Hand, a Bosnian nationalist group. He is the root cause of Austria's declaration of war on Serbia, which was the start of World War I. His assassination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand is considered the spark that started the war, and because he was the man pulling the trigger, he can be cited as the one person who caused World War I.