THE GREAT WARS

The Great Wars



The Great Wars

The first half of the twentieth century was shaped by two global conflicts, World War 1 (WW1) and World War 2 (WW2). Both of these wars were the same in many ways, but different in some ways. For example, they were similar in causes, like, nationalism, militarism, and alliance system, but they were different in the events that shaped the causes of war(Christopher, 1986).

One of the causes of WW1 and WW2 is the alliance system. During WW1 the alliance system consisted of the Triple Alliance (Austria, Germany, Italy) and the Triple Entente (Britain, France, Russia), both of the alliances were secret and hard to stop and limit. The alliance system caused problems in Europe, in that it created tangled alliances that drew all alliances in a conflict. Unlike WW1, WW2 had open alliances, which included Britain and France, Germany and its allies. After Germany, Italy, and Japan formed the Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Axis, Germany become stronger(Sutel, 1994). The alliance system was also important in the causing of WW2, because after WW1, Germany was blamed for starting the war and had to pay $33 billion in reparations to the Allies which made Germany extremely upset and soon got revenge by starting WW2.

Nationalism was another cause of both WW1 and WW2. Nationalism is the love of ones country and both wars showed this. For example, in WW1 there was a strong competition between France, Britain, Russia, Austria- Hungry, and Germany, which was led by nationalism. For example, in June 1914 in Sarajevo, a Slavic nationalist shot and killed the Archduke Franc Ferdinand of Austria- Hungry , which was the direct cause of WW1. Also nationalism led to several civil wars and the desire for "self-determination"(Taylor, 1984). After WW1 the Germans felt embarrassed so they supported a Nazi party that wanted to build a strong army. Italy and Japan also became more nationalistic, which led to cause WW2. WW1 and WW2 were different in that they were two different kinds of nationalism caused by two different feelings, anger and embarrassment.

Militarism also played a role in the causes of WW1 and WW2. In both wars there was a continual buildup of navies and armies. "German Navy Law initiated a 17- year program to build the German navy. Germany's aim was to have a navy stronger than any nation's except Great Britain's". And indeed Germany's armies did become stronger. And because of this action taken by Germany, on September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland and World War 2 began. There was also a build up of weapons in WW1 and WW2, like, gas, grenades, tanks, guns, bombs, and airplanes. The difference between the two wars was that WW1 military was building up their armies for the trenches, and in WW2 they were building up their armies and navies for the lines and waters(Ross, 1996).

Clearly, World War One and World War Two were similar and different in many ways. These two wars can be connected in different ways by the effects ...