WWI vs WWII
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The early twentieth century was mainly an extension of the nineteenth century. The dominant powers and their governments as well as political and social ideologies were largely unchanged. The First World War, or "Great War", as it was known, began the transformation of the world, but it took the Second World War to finish it.
Both world wars seemed to be inevitable. The dominant political movements of militarism, imperialism and entangling alliances, pushed by rapid industrialization, lead to constant conflict between the great powers of Europe. These powers were ready to fight, they just needed a reason. That reason came with the assassination of the Austrian Archduke Francis Ferdinand on June 28, 1914 in the city of Sarajevo. The great powers of Russia, England and France (Triple Entente) quickly found themselves at war with Germany, Austria and the Ottoman Empire (Triple Alliance).
The Second World War was really an extension of the first. The Treaty of Versailles that ended the First World War punished and humiliated Germany to such a degree, the rise of the Nazis and start of WWII was almost inevitable. In direct defiance of the treaty Hitler rearmed Germany and went on an expansionistic campaign that could only end in war.
The style of warfare between the two world wars showed the adjustments that had been made in the use of technology. The First World War introduced many new war making technologies. The Germans introduced the submarine to naval warfare, terrorizing the Atlantic and tipping the scales of naval power away from the British. The French used tanks for the first time to counter the strategy of trenches. Cannon technology advanced into long range shelling and machine gun technology made their use much more prevalent. Airplanes were used early in the war for reconnaissance and later became weapons of war. The use of chemical and biological weapons added a ghastly component to the new technologies used in the war.
Unfortunately for the soldiers in the field, the battle strategies of the First World War did not advance along with the technology. The trench warfare technique lead to fatalities on a scale that was unimaginable even five years before the war. In the Battle of the Somme alone the British lost 25,000 men in the first day.
The technology leap between the world wars was incredible for the relatively short amount of time involved. Submarines and tanks became larger, faster and more powerful. Naval ships also became larger and more powerful, and the introduction of the aircraft carrier may have been the most important development of the war. Of course, the Second World War introduced the most destructive weapon in human history when the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945.
The Second World War was more of a total war than the first, in a variety of ways. More than forty-one million civilians died in the Second World War, more than any other war. Prior to WWII civilians were generally considered off limits for attack. However, the blitzkrieg strategies of the Nazis as well as bombing campaigns in both the European and Pacific theaters specifically targeted civilian populations.
The Second World War was a truly global conflict. Whereas in the First World War the colonies of the European countries did get involved in the fighting, the majority of the war was fought over approximately one hundred miles of territory. In the Second World War the fighting engulfed virtually every continent. Even neutral countries such as Switzerland, found themselves either invaded or attacked.
The most important difference between the world wars was their long term impact. The First World War lead to the rise of the fascists in Italy, Germany and Spain, and had a role in the creation of the Soviet Union, but the world structure was relatively unchanged. The major powers of the world, both politically and militarily were still in Europe. European issues dominated the international landscape. The world structure was still predicated on a euro-centric, balance of power model.
After the Second World War that model changed dramatically. The old powers were gone, the empires were disbanded and Europe itself was split. The new world organization was a bi-polar model with two super powers leading the discussion. The United States and the Soviet Union emerged as the focal points of the new international structure. Other countries either allied with one of these powers or made a go of it on their own. The new international hierarchy would last for the next fifty years and the fall of the Soviet Union.
While both world wars involved many of the same combatants there were many more differences than similarities. The First World War set the stage for the Second World War. WWII changed the world entirely.
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just give a brief understanding of the two great wars and the differences plus similarities of them. No body is going to be attracted by that essay of yours, so long and boring with some real hard vocab. Not many people can read them like a msart person like me, you know.
Well I happen to find this essay very beneficial to my assignment.
I also found this essay very helpful.
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Great summation!
Thanks dude!!! That was really helpful for my hw!!!
I think you sum it up well, but the differences between the wars were much more. You are definitely correct that the advance of technology played the larger roll but it was not only the weapons and guns that made a difference. The communications had evolved rapidly between the two wars. German tanks could in WWII much easier communicate over radio and therefor regroup and be more fatal than ever.
Otherwise I disagree with "smartie" who claims the vocab is too difficul. I am from Sweden and I could understand it all without any problem. The length is no problem either and it wasn't boring at all, I would have kept reading even if it would have been twice as long.
And I don't think this text has any simmilarities with socks as "bitch" claims.
YEAH BABY
xbox 360 pwns ps3
this is very good...and pwngoon69, wtf does that have to do with this essay?
yeah really... wat does xb 360 and ps3 have to do with it ? ^o)
I think this paper gave all the necessary information that I needed for my World History since 1500 class assignment! Thanks
I think this is excelent for students, adults or just those who want to learn about the wars.
Some key points you didnt really specify-mainly foreign policy differences after the wars.
WWI
We were isolationist
Wilson championed the League of Nations but the US didnt join
At the... Potsdam conference i believe... Wilson was turning to an idealist view and presented his 14 points.
The US didnt want to be expansionist, it just wanted to fulfill the "Divine Plan" which was to spread democracy.
After WWI, there were many strikes, the boston police strike to name one, and we had high tariffs and the US closed its doors to the world.
WWII
We were interventionalist
Truman was all about containment
Truman Doctrine- stikes fear into people saying if Greece fell, Turkey would fall, and US wouldnt have enough oil-he really just wanted a military base.
Marshall Plan- $13 billion to west Europe to help repair.
In the end, we were a global power, we joined the UN and were on the security council.
Expanding on Containment that developed even more after WWII
The cold war occurred shortly after in which we developed the National security act- dept. of defense and CIA were created. Americans became paranoid saying that we had spies in our government- it was true. many actors were spies and communist.
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creative.
thnx so much this will really help me on my report.
Pecker heads. Xbox 360 Call of Duty 4 RULES. Buy It
wow. u all must have no lives
Great Compare/Contrast! Very helpful!
THANKS SO MUCH!!:D:DD:D:D:D:D:D:D!!!
friggin love you
thank you so much this really helped for studying for World History final exams!!!!!!!!!!!! :)
thamk u,exactly what i was lookin for,like the preciseness of ur article
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this is a sweet essay dude
absolutely great, maybe you could touch more on the different fighting styles?
this is a sweet essay dude
absolutely great, maybe you could touch more on the different fighting styles?
its good
awsome thanks
Hahhahahhahahahh:D It's stupid.
verry nice very nice...
Ich bin ein SEHR GROSSER Ventilator von Hitler. Ich hasse Sie Leute. Wie können Sie ihn in solch eine Schande einsetzen? Sicher tötete er Juden, aber denkt an es. Weniger Leute auf Masse bedeuten mehr Plätze, um zu arbeiten. Läßt für eine Sekunde, wieviele ehrlich sein von uns prefere der Teufel über dem Gott selbst? hmm? Es gibt Ihre Antwort! Ich denke, daß wir ihn der Gutschrift für die Juden nach rechts reiten mindestens ein wenig geben sollten? Gerade wenig.
This was good that i actually quoted it while writing my paper.
I love you love me I beat you in Modern Warfare Two:] with a great big slash and a head-shot from me to you...why don't you say I love you too.
btw I was doing my social studies homework and this really helped ALOT! THANK YOU very much!!!
This was a fantastic referance for an assignment I did, thank you. Very good summary!
oh my goodness. i was up all night trying to write a paper and i just happened to stumble on this amazing peice of writing. Thank you so much!
WHAT THE *BEEP*
ture
cheeseburger vs taco?
thanks mannn
I came after reading this...
Im not sure which was better the helpful summary or reading everyones comment. The last was my favorite though. haa
dis iz a very dumb website if yuh dnt kno it doent help at all in any way
THANKS! this is fantastic! i had an essay and this was very helpful
Thanks a bunch for this posting. It really helped clarify the mumbo jumbo in my world history since 1500 class.
thanks this helped alot
What are the similarities?
Can someone just give me a brief summary about the similarities of the weapons and technology because my english is not that good
Thank you
Very interesting. Thanks.
Thank you so much, it helped a bunch.
very informational
thanks. This helped in preparation of my test about WWII
very helpfull, thanks
..........
very helpful tajnks
this just did my hw
Call of duty black ops kicks ass
I love how there is a guy saying that he is smart up there when he spelled "anybody" like "any body" then he spelled "smart" like "hsmart".. A REAL GENIUS
shine
I hope this helps while I take my World Civilization final tomorrow! I'm kinda cramming! Pretty good essay.. Thanks a bunch!
thank you so much! very helpful in helping me prepare for exams.
paws up!!!
Yes. it be good.
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This is really awesome and well written. All the negative comments were really pathetic, by the way.
This summed up the World Wars very well and shows a deep understanding in the topic.
Thank you so much!
This article was extremely helpful in helping me finish a history assignment. Thanks so much!!
THIS TOTALLY ROCKED MY WORLD.
thx so much! that really helped!
VERY HELPFUL!
Great essay. It was reaaallllly helpful. Thank you!
@ siredhuman333:
Wilson presented his 14 points in the peace conference, or the peace of paris, not the potsdam conference.
thanks1 copy paste, copy paste!
omg you copyrighter!! dont copy and paste!!!
The essay is great and has helped my effort to write an article - thanks. A little personal message to Racis_Lez: It is people like you who are taking up unnecessary space on the planet. How could you possibly justify mass murder of innocent people. Sorry, forgot you don't speak English: Es sind Leute wie Du die auf der Erde ueberfluessig sind. Wie kann ein Mensch (bist Du ein Mensch?) denken dass Massenmord von unschuldigen Menschen richtig ist????.
omg you copyrighter!! dont copy and paste!!!
dummie 3 years ago
I agree with you!