World War 1 began in 1914 after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and lasted until 1918. During the conflict, Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria and the central powers fought against Great Britain, France, Russia, Italy, Romania, Japan and the United States of America. World War 1 saw unprecedented levels of carnage and destruction of lives and properties.

When the war was over, an estimate 16,000,000 people, both soldiers and civilians alike, were dead. The glitch that ignited World War 1 was struck in Sarajevo, Bosnia, where Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian empire, was shot to death along with his wife, Sophie, by the Serbian Nationalist Gavrilo princip on June 28, 1914; just like Donald Trump ordered the killing of Qasem Soleimani.

You can easily denote that what I call “meaningless” issue caused the First World War, whereby nationalists were struggling to end Austro-Hungarian rule over Bosnia and Herzegovina. The assassination of Franz Ferdinand set off a rapid escalating chain of events where countries around the world blamed the Serbian government for the attack and hoped to use the incident as a justified means for settling the question of Serbian nationalism once and for all, just like countries around the world blamed Trump for the death of Qasem Soleimani, “Iranian General” even if Trump said it was done to stop a war, when a war is already triggered. World War I lasted between July 28, 1914 and November 1918.

Donald Trump’s order on the killing of the Iranian General can trigger World War 111 because other countries nuclearly empowered are mumbling and grumbling underground to help Iran retaliate. And when these irreconcilable differences are unsettled it can trigger World War 111; and can extend all around the world, even to Africa, as most parts of West Africa are already a war zone, like the northern part of Nigeria, Chad and some part of Niger Republic, etc.

World War 11 was the heaviest and deadliest war in history, involving more than 30 countries. It was clicked by the 1939 Nazi invasion of Poland; the war dragged on for six bloody years, until the Allies defeated Nazi Germany and Japan in 1945. We all knew what aroused World War 11 when the political take-over in 1933 of Germany by Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party, which ruthlessly promoted an aggressive foreign policy in violation of the Versailles Treaty of 1919; Japanese militarism against China, Italian aggression against Ethiopia, and the success of Germany in forming an agreement with the Soviet Union in August 1939 to divide up Eastern Europe. These disagreements triggered the war and everyone was on their own page individualistically.

Economically, the participating countries in the treaties felt the treaties signed was unfavorable to their individual countries; therefore, what could have been resolved amicably turned out bloody and over 135 million people died during this war around the globe; and it lasted for about six years (between September 1, 1939 and September 2, 1945).

Trump just stepped on the tiger’s tail and can’t let it up because, soon, as he does, he does not know the cost implications of what he has done. Iran is like a one quarter or less of United States of America population, but Iran can combine forces with other nations (allies) to place their focus specifically on US soul and, with these developments, it can never end well. They will make Syria their weapon storage base.

Has POTUS triggered World War 111? The world is watching!

•Mike-Nifty Ayodeji, a public affairs analyst, can be reached on: nifty.mics@yahoo.com

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