world war 1 and 2 compare and contrast essay

World War I vs. World War II

The First World War (WWI) was fought from 1914 to 1918 and the Second World War (or WWII) was fought from 1939 to 1945. They were the largest military conflicts in human history. Both wars involved military alliances between different groups of countries.

World War I (a.k.a the First World War, the Great War, the War To End All Wars) was centered on Europe. The world warring nations were divided into two groups namely ‘The Central Powers’ and ‘The Allied Powers’. The central powers group consisted of Germany, Austria-Hungary, Turkey and Bulgaria. The Allied powers group consisted of France, Britain , Russia, Italy, Japan, Canada and (from 1917) the U.S.

World War II (a.k.a the Second World War), the opposing alliances are now referred to as ‘The Axis’ and ‘The Allies’. The Axis group consisted of Germany, Italy, and Japan. The Allies group consisted of France, Britain, the U.S., the Soviet Union, Canada and China. World War II was especially heinous because of the genocide of Jewish people perpetrated by the Nazis .

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Causes of the war, world war i trigger.

• The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria on 28 June 1914, the heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary was the trigger for the war. He was killed by Serbian nationalists.
• Austria-Hungary invaded Serbia.
• At same time Germany invaded Belgium , Luxembourg and France
• Russia attacked Germany
• Several alliances formed over the past decades were invoked, so within weeks the major powers were at war; as all had colonies, the conflict soon spread around the world.

This video from Yale explains the events that led to World War I:

Causes of World War II

The Versailles Treaty signed at the end of World War I not only lay the moral blame of the conflict on Germany but also forced the Germans to make huge payments to the victors of the war. France and Britain needed these reparations payments in order to pay down their own debts. But they were highly onerous, arguably unjustifiably so, and were deeply unpopular in Germany. Hitler seized on this growing resentment and promised to "undo this injustice and tear up this treaty and restore Germany to its old greatness". In fact, the payments demanded were so large that Germany was able to repay the final installment of interest on this debt only on October 3, 2010. [1] The following causes of World War II are generally acknowledged:

• Treaty violations and acts of aggression on various fronts.
• Political and economic instability in Germany, combined with bitterness over its defeat in World War I and the harsh conditions of the Treaty of Versailles.
• Rise of power of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. In the mid-1930s Hitler began secretly to rearm Germany, in violation of the treaty.
• Adolf Hitler signed alliances with Italy and Japan to oppose the Soviet Union
• German invasion of Poland on Sept. 1, 1939

The following documentary delves into the causes of World War II:

Sequence of events

World war i.

The sequence of events for World War I began in 1914 with Austria-Hungary declaring war on Serbia on 28 July 1914 in a bid to reassert its authority as a Balkan power. With war breaking out between Austria-Hungary on one side and Serbia on the other, Europe quickly fell back to the alliances nations had formed. Austria-Hungary and Germany were allies. Serbia was allied with Russia; as was France. Russia aided Serbia and attacked Austria. So Austria-Hungary was fighting in two fronts with Serbia and with Russia and consequently lost on both fronts. In a bid to aid Austria-Hungary against Russia, and fearing an attack from France, Germany mobilized its army and attacked France.

• The French, redeploying round Paris, together with the British, checked the now extended German armies on the Marne. In March and April 1915 British sea and land forces attacked the Dardanelles. The Turks countered both threats, causing the British to evacuate the Gallipoli peninsula at the end of 1915.
• A joint Austro-German offensive at Gorlice-Tarnow (2 May 1915) unlocked Russian Poland and the tsar's shattered armies fell back
• In 1915 the Allies agreed that simultaneous attacks on all fronts were the way to drain the reserves of the Central Powers
• On 21 February 1916 Germans attacked the Verdun salient; however this attack was stalled in June. Austrians' independent offensive against the Italians in the Trentino also stalled.
• Germany finally adopted unrestricted submarine warfare in February 1917, and in doing so drove America into the war.
• The Germans extended their front while reducing their strength by almost a million men. Simultaneously they continued to advance in the east, competing with their Austrian allies in the Ukraine and the Turks in the Caucasus. * The French counter-attacked in July and the British in August. Together with the Americans, they drove the Germans back in a series of individually limited but collectively interlocking offensives.
• On 15th September the Anglo-French forces at Salonika attacked in Macedonia, forcing the Bulgars to seek an armistice by the end of the month.
• The whole of the Central Powers' Italian front crumbled after the Austrian defeat on the Piave in June.
• The German high command initiated the request for an Armistice on 4 October. After the war Germany claimed that the army was ‘stabbed in the back’ by revolution at home. The people of Germany and Austria-Hungary were battered by food shortages and inflation.
• On 11 November an armistice with Germany was signed in a railroad carriage at Compiègne. At 11 a.m. on 11 November 1918 a ceasefire came into effect.

1919 A formal state of war between the two sides persisted for another seven months, until signing of the Treaty of Versailles with Germany on 28 June 1919

World War II

The war that broke out in 1939 was a war for the European balance of power. The immediate cause of the conflict was the German demand for the return of Danzig and part of the Polish ‘corridor’ granted to Poland from German territory in the Versailles Treaty of 1919. Poland refused to agree to German demands, and on 1 September 1939 overwhelming German forces launched the Polish campaign and defeated her in three weeks. Russia also invaded eastern Poland. Poland thus got divided into two parts. In March 1939 Britain and France had guaranteed Polish sovereignty, and in honor of that pledge first demanded that German forces withdraw, and then on 3 September declared war on Germany. America was committed by the Neutrality Acts of 1935 and 1937 of non-intervention in overseas conflicts.

This video presents a concise history of the events of World War II:

• German armies invaded Belgium, Luxembourg, and northern France and within six weeks defeated western forces.
• Britain was able to resist German air attacks in the battle of Britain in August and September 1940, and survived a German bombing offensive (the ‘Blitz’) in the winter of 1940-1, but it was not possible for Britain to defeat Germany unaided.
• On 10 June 1940 Mussolini's Italy declared war on Britain and France.
• In December 1940 Hitler turned attention away from Britain and approved BARBAROSSA, the large-scale invasion of the USSR.
• America started giving increasing economic assistance to Britain and China following President Roosevelt's pledge to act as the ‘arsenal of democracy’.
• BARBAROSSA was launched on 22 June 1941 when three million German, Finnish, Romanian, and Hungarian soldiers attacked the whole length of the Soviet western frontier. Soviet Union was shattered.
• In North Africa, Commonwealth forces stationed in Egypt drove Italian armies back across Libya by February 1941
• In Abyssinia and Somaliland Italian forces were forced to surrender by May 1941.
• Italy's complete defeat in Africa was avoided only by Hitler's decision to send German reinforcements under Rommel, and the weak logistical position of Commonwealth forces.
• The US navy became closely involved in the battle of the Atlantic in efforts to break the German submarine blockade of shipping destined for Britain. In March 1941 Congress approved the Lend-Lease Bill which allowed almost unlimited material aid, including weapons, for any state fighting aggression. In the autumn of 1941 this came to include the USSR, despite strong American anti- communism . Throughout 1940 and 1941 the USA tightened an economic blockade of Japan which threatened to cut off most Japanese oil supplies.
• American actions provoked both Japanese and German retaliation. On 7 December 1941 Japanese naval aircraft attacked the American naval base at Pearl Harbor, followed by the rapid conquest of western colonies in south-east Asia and the southern Pacific.
• On 11 December Germany declared war on the USA.
• Russia made a remarkable recovery and in November Germany and her allies attacking Stalingrad (now Volgograd) were cut off by a massive Soviet encirclement, URANUS.
• In November 1942 at Alamein a predominantly Italian force was defeated by Montgomery.
• The USA fought a largely naval and air war between 1942 and 1945, using its very great naval power to deploy troops in major amphibious operations, first in the Solomon Islands to halt the Japanese Pacific advance, then in TORCH, a combined American-British landing in Morocco and Algeria in November 1942.

The entry of the USA signaled a change in the political balance of the war of great significance. German forces in Stalingrad surrendered in January 1943and by May 1943 Italian and German forces finally surrendered in Tunisia, enabling the Allies to mount the invasion of Sicily and then Italy. Italy sued for an armistice in September 1943.

American economic might and political interests helped to bind together the different fronts of conflict, while America's worldwide system of supply and logistics provided the sinews of war necessary to complete the defeat of the aggressor states. A major intelligence deception operation and declining air power weakened the German response and by September 1944 German forces had been driven from France.

• German surrendered on 7 May 1945 following Hitler's suicide on 30 April.
• A long-range bombing campaign destroyed the Japanese cities and most of the Japanese navy and merchant marine. America’s newest weapon, the atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945.
• Soviet forces destroyed the Japanese army in Manchuria; Japan finally capitulated on 2 September.

War strategies

Many of the weapons that dominate military operations today were developed during World War I, including the machine gun, the tank and specialized combat aircraft. This is a great video that explains the military strategies and tactics used during World War I.

• After the war, the Paris Peace Conference imposed a series of peace treaties on the Central Powers. The 1919 Treaty of Versailles officially ended the war. Building on Wilson's 14th point, the Treaty of Versailles also brought into being the League of Nations on 28 June 1919. In signing the treaty, Germany acknowledged responsibility for the war, agreeing to pay enormous war reparations and award territory to the victors. It caused a lot of bitterness.
• Austria–Hungary was partitioned into several successor states.
• The Russian Empire lost much of its western frontier as the newly independent nations of Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland were carved from it.
• The war ended with the total victory of the Allies over Germany and Japan in 1945. The United Nations was established to foster international cooperation and prevent future conflicts.
• The Soviet Union and the United States emerged as rival superpowers.
• Although the totalitarian regimes in Germany, Italy, and Japan were defeated, the war left many unresolved political, social, and economic problems in its wake and brought the Western democracies into direct confrontation with their erstwhile ally, the Soviet Union under Josef Stalin, thereby initiating a period of nearly half a century of skirmishing and nervous watchfulness as two blocs, each armed with nuclear weapons , faced each other probing for any sign of weakness.
• The European economy had collapsed with 70% of the industrial infrastructure destroyed.
• A rapid period of decolonization also took place within the holdings of the various European colonial powers. These primarily occurred due to shifts in ideology, the economic exhaustion from the war and increased demand by indigenous people for self-determination.
• Wikipedia: World War II
• Wikipedia: World War I
• Wikipedia: World War I casualties
• Wikipedia: World War II casualties
• World War I - Encyclopædia Britannica
• What are some interesting facts about the Second World War? - Quora

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Anonymous comments (5).

September 13, 2012, 2:37pm this is awesome — 152.✗.✗.49

May 13, 2014, 5:05pm This is actually really helpful if you'r learning about the ww1 and ww2- it makes things a lot easier. Thxs — 2.✗.✗.119

April 7, 2014, 1:27pm So helpful good for a nerd like me. — 182.✗.✗.155

April 18, 2013, 4:07pm this helped a lot — 150.✗.✗.200

October 7, 2013, 8:12pm Genocide by Germany, was carried out on more than those listed. — 204.✗.✗.1

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Historyplex

A Definitive Comparison Between World War 1 and World War 2

World War I (1914-1918) and World War II (1939-1945) were two of the most important events in world history. Almost all the continents were involved in the wars, and they led to a massive destruction all over the world. Millions lost their lives.

Switzerland maintained neutrality during both the world wars.

Is war necessary, we wonder sometimes. Can the world not live in peace? While some argue that wars are necessary to establish peace, others say that they are fought out of the hunger for power. Conflicting ideologies between countries, and their ambitions to gain supremacy, may take the ugly shape of a war, which may involve only those countries, or sometimes, the whole world. That’s exactly what was seen in both the world wars. There were millions of casualties and the outcomes were disastrous. Here, we try to compare the two world wars on the basis of their causes, effects, and the tactics and strategies used in the two.

During World War I, with several claiming hierarchical control and princely states refusing to shed their independence, the differences peaked. Some countries refused to come to the table to negotiate peace terms. The economic instability brought by the First World War led to the rise of Fascism in Europe, which is one of the factors that further led to the Second World War. Also, the way in which peace settlement was done at the end of the first war, became a major contributing factor to the second one. Here, we try to compare to the two world wars with respect to their causes and effects.

World War I

► The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria was one of the events that triggered the war. Austro-Hungarians waged war against Serbia.

► The imperialistic and territorial rivalries between Great Britain, France, Germany, Russia, and Austria-Hungary were another cause of the war.

► German U-boats sank US submarines which led to the United States declaring war on Germany.

► The alliances between Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy formed the Central Powers to stop the triple alliance between France, Britain, and Russia called the Allied Powers. This too, played a major role in triggering the war.

World War II

►The Treaty of Versailles was an important cause of the Second World War. Though it was meant for establishing peace, it did not satisfy the Germans. Germany lost territory and had to face economic problems. The treaty had weakened Germany and hence proved to be a trigger for the rise of Fascism and Hitler’s dominance in the country.

► Adolf Hitler and the Nazis made unreasonable demands. Nazi ideologies created tension. Britain and France, allied with Poland, threatened Germany with a war. Germany and USSR came together, thus dividing Europe.

► The war in Europe that started on September 1, 1939 was triggered by the Danzig crisis.

► Japan joined the war to prove its might and invaded Manchuria in China.

►The bombing of Pearl Harbor by Japan in 1944 gave the United States of America, a reason to join the war.

► Each soldier would be given a rifle, a bayonet, and 3 grenades.

► Tanks were first introduced in the war with the British Mark V.

► The Germans introduced machine guns with each battalion having a minimum of 6. The Russians had 8 machine guns while the British had two.

► Mortars were explosive bombs that were shot in a projectile motion.

► Heavy artillery was used. It would be rarely successful because of its weak aiming and speed of reloading.

► Gases were commonly used to occupy enemy trenches.

► In 1915, Germany employed flamethrowers against the French.

► Barbed wire would be placed near enemy camps to prevent enemy soldiers from entering. Artillery shot at barbed wire would explode and injure soldiers on both sides.

► Light machine guns were used against low-flying aircraft and cannons on carriers were used against heavy aircraft.

► The bazooka was used as an anti-tank missile against the German Army which could travel at a range of 400 yards.

► Guided bombs were used by the Germans against anti-aircraft guns in the form of the Fritz-X bomb.

► The Panther tank was used by the German Army and formed the backbone of the Blitzkrieg tactic.

► The atom bomb was used to wipe out the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

► Germany used U-boats to sink American ships.

► During World War I, between the trench battles of the Ottomans and British, the Ottomans had run out of cigarettes. The British spread cigarettes wrapped in propaganda. The Ottomans threw them away. At the last minute, the British spread cigarettes laced with heroin which turned the tide of the war.

► The way a trench would be attacked was that about a hundred men ran into machine guns and barbed wire. And to defend a trench, men would stand along it, and shoot at the approaching men.

► Light flares were launched on a half-hourly basis to spot enemy soldiers to spot and shoot them.

► Germany used mustard gas in September 1917 claiming 1,976 British soldiers’ lives.

► Infiltration tactics included letting soldiers occupy enemy sentry points and then bombarding them with heavy artillery.

► Germany used air warfare to bomb cities with the help of its secret air force called the Luftwaffe.

► Fighter-bombers were used to strike enemy outposts and destroy supply and communication centers.

► The Germans were the first to use an airborne invasion during the Battle of Flanders on the island of Crete.

► 700 gliders, loaded with troops and equipment, and three divisions of paratroops were used by the Allies during the Normandy division.

► Germany deployed submarines homing torpedoes to target enemy submarines.

► The US Marines developed methods for landing troops near defended shores, which were used in the Normandy landings.

► The introduction of tanks changed the landscape of the war. The Soviet P-34 and the Panther were the most fearsome opponents on land.

► The German V-2 ballistic missile was used as a long-range artillery weapon.

► The Allies were equipped with semi-automatic weapons.

► Operation Mincemeat was carried out to deceive the Germans by Great Britain in believing they were attacking Sardinia instead of Italy. They used a corpse of a homeless man stuffed with false documents of the war and alerted the Spanish. The Spanish quickly alerted the Germans who repositioned their troops.

► The British had captured Nazi POWs and placed them in a country mansion, instead of prison. They were supplied with lavish food and other material comforts, turning a blind eye to the fact that the house was bugged and their conversations were used to find more information about German tactics.

► The Blitzkrieg was used extensively by the German Army to raze Poland and Czechoslovakia.

► Communism spread among the Soviet Union resulting in the Russian revolution of 1917.

► The Treaty of Versailles blamed the war on the Germans and the German Army was forced to pay $31.5 billion dollars as reparation.

► The empire of Austria-Hungary split their union and formed independent countries of Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia.

► Colonies such as India and Nigeria started asserting their independence.

► There was a Great Depression in America.

► The war lasted for 4 years.

► The war ended with the victory of the Allies against Germany and Japan in 1945.

► The European economy had collapsed with 70% of the industrial infrastructure destroyed.

► Germany split into two, with East Germany adopting a communist policy and West Germany, a democratic state.

► Japan was under military rule of the United States (temporarily).

► Hitler and his closest associates committed suicide but many associates, especially Hermann Göring was sentenced to life imprisonment for hate crimes.

► The United Nations was formed on 24th October 1945, promising to uphold the peace.

► The duration of the war was of 6 years.

Though the wars spanned four and six years respectively, the consequences they had were severe and lasted for years.

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Causes of WWI and WWII: Comparing and Contrasting Essay

The First World War, as well as the Second World War, are regarded as the most devastating military conflicts in the history of humanity. The First World Ward is also known as the Great War. It was the first global conflict between Central Powers and Allied Powers. Austro-Hungarian Empire, Germany, and Ottoman Empire comprised Central Powers. Russia, France, Italy, and Great Britain were the primary forces of Allied Powers. World War I commenced in 1914 and ended in 1918. More than nine million people were killed during four years of war (“World War I” par. 1). More countries took part in World War II than in WWI, and its destructive outcomes were worse too. The primary aggressors of WWII were Germany, Italy, and Japan. France, Soviet Union, Great Britain, and the United States became Allies. WWI started in 1939 and lasted until 1945. The approximate number of deaths comprised more than fifty million (“World War II” par. 2).

Numerous scientists have investigated the causes of both wars. In the following paper, Kenneth Waltz’s levels of analysis will be used for the comparison and contrast of causes of WWI and WWII. Kenneth Waltz was a founder of structural realism or neorealism who suggested three levels of analysis for the evaluation of causes of war in his book “Man, the State, the War”. The first level of analysis concerns particular individuals.

Thus, wars can be caused by the specific intentions and behaviors of leaders. The second level deals with the examination of domestic factors that may cause war. The situation within the country, the existence and activities of pressure groups belong to this level of analysis. The third level is global. It is the international level of analysis, and it examines international relations between states as a potential cause for war (Dooley 261-263).

The third level of analysis is systemic as far as it presents the highest level of evaluation. According to Waltz, the structure of international politics, power distribution, and national interests are primary causes of wars on the third level of analysis (Dibek par. 2). Waltz believed that the structure of the international system was anarchic. He used the word “anarchy” to describe the absence of absolute world power or the highest government rather than the state of chaos. Thus, at the highest level of their autonomy, countries are on their own. Consequently, they aim at improving their positions and defending national interests.

The first similarity between both WWI and WWII refers to the similar structure of wars. Thus, both wars were represented by Allied countries that opposed the German aggression and its supporters. One can conclude that there was a state of anarchy before wars. The second similarity refers to the distribution of power and the division of world order. In both wars, Germany believed that it should receive a better position on the global level.

Although the distribution of power and opposition to aggressors occurred between almost the same countries, wars had different ground. World War I was caused by the instability of Austro-Hungarian Empire. Serbia wanted to become an independent nation. After the assassination of Franz Ferdinand, Russia supported Serbia while Germany — the Empire. The separation of Serbia was catastrophic for Empire’s might and dominance.

The conflict was based on the division of territories. Also, countries fought for national pride (“World War I & II Compare and Contrast” 11-12). In contrast, Adolf Hitler, who believed in the superiority of the Aryan race, initiated WWII. As a result, the war occurred because of the clash of two ideologies such as Fascism and Communism. These differences exemplify various processes of both conflicts. WWI comprised of fighting for territories and countries. WWII included acts of massive slaughtering of people who did not belong to the Aryan race.

According to Waltz, specialized international organizations should monitor the instability in the particular region. Some scholars believe that the lack of such authority as the League of Nations is the primary cause for WWI. The participants of WWI failed to follow rules of diplomatic negotiations. When the WWI was over, the League of Nations was created to promote peace and diplomacy in the world. The history showed that the League of Nations did not possess necessary power and influence to control intentions of Germany and other aggressors before WWII. Still, the presence of such organization and countries’ refusal to follow new principles of diplomacy are primary distinctive features of causes of WWII (“Comparing and Contrasting WW1 and WW2” par. 4).

The usage of the first and second levels of analysis would help me to improve my explanation of causes of WWII. As far as the first level describes individuals, it is directly connected with Adolf Hitler. His individuality, personal preferences, and beliefs were crucial for the beginning of WWII. The second level of analysis, domestic, can be useful for the evaluation of the propaganda of Nazi ideology among people. Hitler had to inspire his nation to follow his idea. The propaganda of the superiority of the Aryan race and the need to make the society clear was essential for the commencement of the war.

Works Cited

Comparing and Contrasting WW1 and WW2 . n.d. Web.

Dibek, Elif. What are the Basic Concepts of Neorealism? n.d. Web.

Dooley, Kevin. Why Politics Matter: An Introduction to Political Science . Boston, Massachusetts: Cengage Learning, 2014. Print.

World War I . n.d. Web.

World War I & II Compare and Contrast . n.d. Web.

World War II . n.d. Web.

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Jotted Lines

A Collection Of Essays

Compare and Contrast World War 1 and World War 2

Both the first as well as the second world wars are landmark events in modern world history. Both wars are marked by involvement of the prevailing world powers of the day. In the case of World War 1 (WW1), the principal actors were the European powers of Britain, Germany, Austria, etc with nominal participation from the United States. The World War 2 (WW2) saw a more meaningful participation from the United States of America, which was then set to become the leading superpower in the post war years. The rest of the essay will delve into similarities and differences between these two wars.

The two wars are distinguished in the development and application of military technology. While the state of military warfare was rudimentary and simple during the years of WW1, WW2 saw significant advancements in military technology. For example, the advent of Tanks by the Third Reich is perceived by experts to be a crucial factor in the dynamics of combat during World War 2. This was in sharp contrast to such innovations as the Zeppelin that was employed by the German command during WW1.

The reasons that led to these two brutal wars were very different in nature. In the case of World War 1, the assassination of the monarch of the Austro-Hungarian Empire acted as a trigger in destabilizing what was then a delicate state of European political balance. A combination of unfortunate timing of the assassination alongside the growing internal tension within the European powers gave vent in the form of a war on a massive scale. World War 2 though cannot be attributed to any event or act of an accidental nature. The blatant and brazen ambition of Adolf Hitler and his Third Reich made the subsequent confrontation almost inevitable.

WW1 was characterized by the long periods spent by the armed forces in “trenches”, so much so that the war is often described as trench warfare. This not only indicates the lack of sophistication in the art of war at the time but also the “stagnant” nature of this type of warfare. While the recorded duration of WW1 was close to five years, ranging from 1914 to 1919, most of this time was spent in combats that have reached a state of “stalemate”. But contrastingly, WW2 was predominantly an aerial one, in that, most of the strategic advantage was gained by the country that possessed a superior air force. The most brutal demonstrations of the mighty German air power happened during the “blitz” that nearly decimated many towns and cities in Britain out of recognition.

Another area that offers a contrasting perspective on the nature of societies during the two wars is the role played by women. During World War 1 women remained in the background, making very little contribution to the final outcome of the war. But the gaining momentum of the women suffrage movement during the 1930’s had widened the horizons of the erstwhile conservative societies. This led to greater participation by women during World War 2. For example, a whole class of women workers was employed in ammunition factories as well as in rehabilitation centers as nurses.

But, in terms of the existing economic conditions of Europe and America, there is not much difference between the periods leading up to the two great wars. For instance, the most prosperous phase of the 1920’s in America was preceded by times of uncertainty and social unrest in the years following the turn of the century. The years of prosperity was followed by the Great Depression and the associated poverty and suffering of the American citizenry. While America was not a leading player in either of the two wars, its economic conditions acted as an indirect factor in the way things panned out. After recovering from the economic Depression, American policy makers saw a great strategic opportunity in consolidating their position as a global power during the late thirties and early forties. This motive was quite significant in the eventual outcome of the war and the establishment of a new world order.

As mentioned before, WW1 was essentially a European conflict. But with the renewed imperialist ambitions of Japan, the whole complexion of world affairs changed during the late 1930’s. Following a period of economic stability and industrial advancement, Japan set out to dominate the far eastern section of the globe. Although Japan’s official reasons for interfering with South East Asian politics was given as “liberation from western colonialists”, the real motive is well understood by the subjects as well as other contending powers. This imperialist goal of Japan was no insignificant factor in instigating the allied forces in general and the United States in particular to act in defense of their strategic and economic interests. This is a crucial difference in the dynamics of the two wars.

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World War 1 and World War 2, Essay Example

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The two world wars made significant impacts in the world, which are experienced in various regions and by various groups even today. One of the greatest similarities evident in the two wars is the parties involved in the wars. In both cases, the war was between two parties. While the Allies and the Central Powers were the parties in the First World War, the Axis and the Allies were the parties in the Second World War. The Allies of the First World War included Russia, France, United Kingdom, and Triple Entente. The Central Powers included Italy, Austria-Hungary, and Germany. However, Italy later withdrew from the war after Austria-Hungry took the offensive

World War I was triggered by the death of Austria-Hungary’s Archduke F. Ferdinand. He was the successor of the reigning ruler. The assassination was done by a Yugoslav nationalist. This was seen as war against Austria-Hungary. Therefore, the kingdom’s allies were gathered in readiness for retaliation. On the other hand, the Second World War was triggered by German’s invasion of Poland because it wanted to expand its empire. Subsequently, France and most of the commonwealth countries had declared war on Italy and Germany. Thus, the Second World War began. However, China and Japan were already at war prior to these incidences.

In both wars, the United States’ first attempt was to stay neutral to all parties. However, this attempt did not last long after the United States was pressured to take a stand by the other countries. In both wars, the United States ended up aiding the Allies. President Woodrow Wilson aided the WW1 while Franklin Roosevelt oversaw the second one. This occurred after the United States realized that the Germans were acting as the villains. The United States aided in military and weaponry resources, funds, healthcare and food, amongst other resources. In both cases, the country was on the winning party.

While the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings and the Holocaust are the most memorable war crimes in the Second World War, the genocides in Greek, Assyria and Armenia are the most memorable in the First World War. Armenian genocide occurred under ethnic cleansing. This was done by the Ottoman Empire because they perceived the Armenians as the enemy. The Russians were also involved in the death Jews, and Germans because they killed them in thousands. In the Second World War, the Holocaust involved the death of many Jews who were said to be in millions. These Jews were in concentration camps. The Atomic bombings of Nagasaki and Hiroshima killed more than 166, 000 people within the first four months. These bombings were done by the United States, the China republic and the United Kingdom, which had urged Japan to surrender from the Pacific War, a continuation of the Second World War, without any success. The aftermath of these bombings are still experienced even today.

While the first world War resulted to the change of larger entities (empires/countries) such as imperialistic foreign policies of Italy, French Republic, Ottoman, Austria-Hungarian, British, Russian, and the German Empires, the Second World War influenced individuals. For example, the women in the United States and other significant regions were significantly impacted towards working and fighting for their rights. During the warring period, they had taken up the factory jobs and other jobs to safeguard their families as the majority of the men were in the warring countries. When the war ended, they still wanted to work. This led to the women’s campaigns for their right to work and do other activities that were limited to the men.

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This unit forms part of the World War One materials at ActiveHistory:

Causes of world war one, life in the trenches in world war one, causes for germany's defeat in world war one, remembrance day: activities for all year groups, battlefields trip: itinerary, workpack and follow-up activities, origins of ww1 and ww2: comparisons and contrasts, in this unit, students will have the opportunity to research the origins of both world war one, and world war two, in considerable depth. the unit is structured so that the factor to be researched are directly comparable. one group of students will focus on the first world war, and one on the second world war. they will present their findings to each other, and then conduct follow-up activities based around some of the big historiographical debates (e.g. the fischer controversy, the structuralist/intentionalist debate, the taylor/trevor-roper clash - pictured - about whether hitler was a 'gambler' or a 'planner'). finally, they will be in a position to compare and contrast the origins of both wars and produce a detailed and sophisticated essay., this unit is best followed by the " origins of war historiography project " that can also be found on activehistory., stage 1: researching each war in depth.

Historiographical Overview : This information sheet outlines the essential historiographical debate - namely, the Fischer Thesis, which suggested that both World Wars were essentially caused by the same consistent factor - namely, German aggression. The task of students will be to decide how far they agree with this idea.

Research Template : Students are then presented with a research template which has NINE key causes of each World War listed within it. "Divide these causes between the members of the group.Research your allocated factor(s) with relation to your particular war. Produce a one-slide presentation which will summarise your findings for the rest of the class".

Additional resources for students researching the Origins of World War One

• Summary Sheet - A summary of the main events , organised by theme; there is also a factual test based on this (note: requires teacher password).
• Main Video Resource : The Great War (1964), Episode 1 - with accompanying worksheet and also a factual test (note: requires teacher password).

Additional resources for students researching the Origins of World War Two

• Main Video Resource: The Nazis: A Warning from History, Episode 3 - with accompanying worksheet .

Stage 2: Presentations

Overview of the procedure : This handout explains how the group working on World War One will present their findings first, and that this will be followed by a whole-class exercise linking the factors together and some historiography work (below). The same format is repeated with relation to World War Two.

Historiography of World War One: Follow-up work after the presentations and linkage of factors

• Introductory video clip : AJP Taylor outlines his "railway timetable" theory - do we find it convincing?

• Factual test on WW1 This factual test could be taken by students at this stage to test their knowledge and understanding of the topic by this stage. Questions are divided into chronological, thematic and historiographical categories (30 questions in total).

Historiography of World War Two: Follow-up work after the presentations and linkage of factors

• Introductory video clip : AJP Taylor and Hugh Trevor-Roper debate whether Hitler was a 'Gambler' or a 'Planner' (this clip is best shown after introducing students to the worksheet that follows - it is directly referenced within it towards the beginning).
• Main Task : Was Hitler a Gambler, or a Planner, in Foreign Affairs? Students use extracts from the 4-Year Plan , Code Green , the Hossbach Memorandum and Mein Kampf to decide where they stand in the classic Taylor/Trevor-Roper debate about the "Hitler Factor". They can then write up their findings . As an extension task they could investigate the Intentionalist/Structuralist debate .
• Introduction and Video Overview
• Why Appeasement? (video link)
• Historiography of Appeasement | Sources to accompany the activity
• Primary source analysis activity: Public Opinion Polls on Appeasement (complete with teacher answer sheet ).
• IB-style Sourcework Paper on Appeasement

Stage 3: Comparing and contrasting both wars

Introductory video clip: AJP Taylor outlines the "Fischer Controversy" With both wars now considered separately, we are in a position to judge whether the "Fischer Thesis" (that both wars can primarily be explained through reference to a consistently aggressive German foreign policy) is accurate.

Main Task: Was Hitler's foreign policy traditional, or unprecedented? In this activity students use extracts from the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk , an Interview with Hitler , Mein Kampf and the September Programme to decide where they stand in regard to the Fischer controversy.

Model Essay by RJ Tarr (note: teacher password required) At this point, students should return to their original research template to complete the final column, which asks them to make some observations about whether the various factors for each war are areas of comparison and contrast. This can then be used as the basis for an essay on the causes of either war, or an essay comparing them both. The model essay provided here was written by the author of this website in timed conditions and could be given to students for extra stimulus after they have finished their own work.

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Compare and contrast the causes of the First World War and the Second World War

Compare and contrast the causes of the First World War and the Second World War.

Both the First World War and the Second World War were initially blamed on German aggression. There are definite similarities in the ways in which the wars broke out however it could be argued that the Second World War was a result mainly of the First, along with and the failure of the peacemakers at Versailles to make a sustainable peace treaty. This essay will demonstrate the similarities between the causes of both wars but will also show the significance of the failure of the peace treaties during the interwar years on the causes of the Second World War. This essay will argue that it was the failure of the peace settlements that directly led to WWII and that this is the main difference between the causes of the two total wars.

The orthodox view on the causes of WWI is that it was due to German aggression. This can be supported by a quote from historian A.J.P Taylor who said that; “Schlieffens dead hand automatically pulled the trigger.” The Schlieffen plan can be used to argue that Germany specifically wanted war; they had planned a system of mobilization very far in advance. Similarly, it could be argued that Germany planned to go to war a second time pre-WWII, the evidence supporting this being Hitler’s ‘Mein Kamf’ which clearly outlined Hitler’s expansionist aims. These two examples show how in both cases of the causes of WWI and WWII it can be argued that German aggression acted as a major catalyst. It can also be argued, however, that it was specifically due to the failure of the ToV that Hitler came to write ‘Mein Kamf’ at all, or indeed that he communicated his message successfully. The loss of 13% of German territory due to the peace settlements, and the restricted army, meant that Hitler’s nationalist and imperialist message broke through to the public far more powerfully then it would perhaps have had otherwise.

A major cause of WWI was the growing feeling of nationalism in both Western and Eastern Europe. Imperialist rivalries, such as that between France and Germany after the Franco-Prussian war, aroused nationalist feelings. Historian Gordon Craig describes the situation in Europe as having “increased the opportunities for friction between the major powers and inflamed the resentments of minor ones.”  

This is a preview of the whole essay

During the run up to WWII, Hitler ruthlessly wished to pursue the policy of Lebensraum which has similar connections to the growing nationalism pre-World War I. Due to the Treaty of Versailles (ToV), Germany had been humiliated and forced into agreeing to a diktat, article 231 – blaming Germany for starting the war. Having felt that they had lost the war unjustly in the first place, and that they had been “stabbed in the back” by the liberal, “November criminals” who had signed the agreement, mass feelings of nationalism spread throughout Germany, in turn helping Hitler (who appealed to a traditional, conservative public) rise to power. The policy of Lebensraum promised nationalists a return to the powerful, proud Germany that they had known post-WWI.

In both cases of WWI and WWII feelings of nationalism played an important role in causing total war. It is interesting that it was specifically nationalism caused by the problems of WWI peace-settlements that prompted WWII. In this way it can be argued that whilst both wars were encouraged by nationalism, the Second World War was due to nationalism that actually originated from the First.

Historian Michael Howard argues that the Pre-WWI Great Powers went to war “to fulfil a precise obligation which could not be abandoned without shattering consequences of national prestige, morale and interests”. Without going to war, it could be argued, the Great Powers would not have kept their Great Power status. In this way it was very much imperialism that was a major cause of WWI. Another example of this can be seen in Russia who was lured into war by the Balkans, of Constantinople and the Straights. England wanted to maintain their Empire and France had ambitions in Morocco, as did Germany. James Joll argues that “war was inevitable if vital national interests were to be preserved.”

A major reason as to why WWII took place lies in the fact that Hitler went against the peace settlements decided at the ToV and marched into Austria in 1939 to achieve the Anschluss. This shows German imperialist and expansionist aims. At the time, not wanting to risk war, the other countries did nothing, only increasing tension when Hitler further breached the terms drawn up in the ToV.

In both cases of WWI and WWII imperialism and preserving national interests were a major cause of tension. The major difference between the two is that, pre-WWI all major powers felt imperialistic, however post-WWI it was only Germany. Imperialism acting as a cause of WWII was directly due to the fact that it was a breach of the ToV. Once again this shows how, although both WWI and WWII had a similar causes, the causes of WWII were directly due to the failure to produce an effective peace treaty and therefore indirectly due and connected to WWI.

Another major cause of WWI is the system of alliances that tangled up the European nations together and made it so that if any one nation went to war the others would be pulled along and bound to join in as well. The ToV wanted to ensure that this kind of system would never be put into place again. In one of its clauses it banned the formation of any secret alliances. WWII did not take place because countries were bound to one another in alliance systems, however the failure of appeasement can be seen as a similarity to the alliance system pre-WWI. Appeasement towards Germany was justified because people believed the to ToV had be unfair and that Hitler’s actions, in breaching to ToV terms, were justified. Both the alliance system and policy of appeasment were systems that countries relied on to maintain stability and order in Europe, however both, with historians who have the benefit of hindsight, are reviewed as being failures and actually understood as being major causes of the two total wars. On the other hand, the fact that appeasement was a result of a reaction towards the ToV, this once more shows that the ToV played a major role in the outbreak of WWII.  

In conclusion, both the cause of WWI and WWII have may similarities, both being blamed by orthodox historians as being the result of German aggression, both having roots in nationalism and imperialism and both being due to the unorganized and muddled state of Europe at the time; either due to alliance systems in pre-WWI or economically as a result of the great depression pre-WWII. This is described best by David Lloyd George post-WWI; “we slithered over the brink”. President Kennedy argues that not all the blame of WWII should rest on the problems of the ToV, as war did not happen directly after it, but rather after the great depression. This shows another point of view and another difference between the two wars, how WWI came from an industrially rich Europe whilst WWII broke out in an economically weakened one. Before WWI there was no punitive settlement generating tension, but rather colonial rivalry, which in turn was not present in the run up to WWII. Both wars had similar causes, the main differences in the roots of the two World wars lie in the fact that WWII was in some ways a consequence of the failures of the ToV and in this way was indirectly connected to WWI.

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• Level International Baccalaureate
• Subject History

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World War I Changed America and Transformed Its Role in International Relations

So why don't we pay more attention to it.

—Library of Congress

The entry of the United States into World War I changed the course of the war, and the war, in turn, changed America. Yet World War I receives short shrift in the American consciousness. 

Recruiting poster for the U.S. Army by Herbert Paus.

Detail of a recruiting poster for YWCA by Ernest Hamlin Baker.

The American Expeditionary Forces arrived in Europe in 1917 and helped turn the tide in favor of Britain and France, leading to an Allied victory over Germany and Austria in November 1918. By the time of the armistice, more than four million Americans had served in the armed forces and 116,708 had lost their lives. The war shaped the writings of Ernest Hemingway and John Dos Passos. It helped forge the military careers of Dwight D. Eisenhower, George S. Patton, and George C. Marshall. On the home front, millions of women went to work, replacing the men who had shipped off to war, while others knitted socks and made bandages. For African-American soldiers, the war opened up a world not bound by America’s formal and informal racial codes. 

And we are still grappling with one of the major legacies of World War I: the debate over America’s role in the world. For three years, the United States walked the tightrope of neutrality as President Woodrow Wilson opted to keep the country out of the bloodbath consuming Europe. Even as Germany’s campaign of unrestricted submarine warfare in the Atlantic put American sailors and ships in jeopardy, the United States remained aloof. But after the Zimmermann telegram revealed Germany’s plans to recruit Mexico to attack the United States if it did not remain neutral, Americans were ready to fight. 

In April 1917, President Wilson stood before Congress and said, “The world must be made safe for democracy.” With those words, he asked for a declaration of war, which Congress gave with gusto. For the first time in its history, the United States joined a coalition to fight a war not on its own soil or of its own making, setting a precedent that would be invoked repeatedly over the next century. 

“For most Americans, going to war in 1917 was about removing the German threat to the U.S. homeland,” says Michael S. Neiberg, professor of history at the U.S. Army War College. “But after the war, Wilson developed a much more expansive vision to redeem the sin of war through the founding of a new world order, which created controversy and bitterness in the United States.”

The burden of sending men off to die weighed on Wilson’s conscience. It was one reason why he proposed the creation of the League of Nations, an international body based on collective security. But joining the League required the United States to sacrifice a measure of sovereignty. When judged against the butcher’s bill of this war, Wilson thought it was a small price to pay. Others, like Wilson’s longtime nemesis Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, believed that the United States should be free to pursue its own interests and not be beholden to an international body. America hadn’t fought a war only to relinquish its newfound stature as a military power. 

As soldiers returned home and the victory parades faded, the fight over the League of Nations turned bitter. The sense of accomplishment quickly evaporated. “Then came the Depression (a direct result of the war) and another global crisis,” says Neiberg. “All of that made memory of World War I a difficult thing for Americans to engage with after about 1930.” 

Even as the world has changed, the positions staked out by Wilson and Lodge have not evolved much over the past one hundred years. When new storm clouds gathered in Europe during the 1930s, Lodge’s argument was repurposed by isolationists as “America First,” a phrase that has come back into vogue as yet another example of the war’s enduring influence. “The war touched everything around the globe. Our entire world was shaped by it, even if we do not always make the connections,” Neiberg says. 

Historian and writer A. Scott Berg emphatically agrees. “I think World War I is the most underrecognized significant event of the last several centuries. The stories from this global drama—and its larger-than-life characters—are truly the stuff of Greek tragedy and are of Biblical  proportion; and modern America’s very identity was forged during this war.”

A biographer of Wilson and Charles Lindbergh, Berg has now cast his eye as an editor across the rich corpus of contemporaneous writing to produce  World War I and America , a nearly one-thousand-page book of letters, speeches, diary entries, newspaper reports, and personal accounts. This new volume from Library of America starts with the  New York Times  story of the assassination of Franz Ferdinand in July 1914 and concludes with an excerpt from John Dos Passos’s novel  1919 . In between, the voices of soldiers, politicians, nurses, diplomats, journalists, suffragettes, and intellectuals ask questions that are still with us. 

“What is America’s role in the world? Are our claims to moral leadership abroad undercut by racial injustice at home? What do we owe those who serve in our wars?” asks Max Rudin, Library of America’s publisher. With 2017 marking the one-hundredth anniversary of America's entry into the war, the moment seemed ripe to revisit a conflict whose ghosts still haunt the nation. “It offered an opportunity to raise awareness about a generation of American writers that cries out to be better known,” says Rudin. 

The volume shows off familiar names in surprising places. Nellie Bly and Edith Wharton report from the front lines. Henry Morgenthau Sr., the ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, files increasingly terrifying reports on the Armenian genocide. As Teddy Roosevelt leads the fight for American intervention, Jane Addams and Emma Goldman question the aims of the war. Writing from Italy, Ernest Hemingway complains to his family about being wounded. While Wilson and Lodge fight over American sovereignty, Ezra Pound expresses his disillusionment and grief in verse. 

We also meet Floyd Gibbons, a  Chicago Tribune  crime reporter. Before the war he covered plenty of shootings, but “I could never learn from the victims what the precise feeling was as the piece of lead struck.” He found out in June 1918 at Belleau Wood when a German bullet found him—“the lighted end of a cigarette touched me in the fleshy part of my upper left arm.” A second bullet also found his shoulder, spawning a large burning sensation. “And then the third one struck me. . . . It sounded to me like some one had dropped a glass bottle into a porcelain bathtub. A barrel of whitewash tipped over and it seemed that everything in the world turned white.” The third bullet had found his left eye. 

Stepping into an operating theater with Mary Borden, the Chicago heiress who established hospitals in France and Belgium, the smell of blood and death almost leaps off the page. “We send our men up the broken road between bushes of barbed wire and they come back to us, one by one, two by two in ambulances, lying on stretchers. They lie on their backs on the stretchers and are pulled out of the ambulances as loaves of bread are pulled out of the oven.” As a wounded soldier is laid out, “we conspire against his right to die. We experiment with his bones, his muscles, his sinews, his blood. We dig into the yawning mouths of his wounds. Helpless openings, they let us into the secret places of his body.”

When the American Expeditionary Forces shipped off to Europe, so too did approximately 16,500 women. They worked as clerks, telephone operators, and nurses; they also ran canteens that served meals to soldiers and offered a respite from battle. “These women often had complex motivations, such as a desire for adventure or professional advancement, and often witnessed more carnage than male soldiers, creating unacknowledged problems with PTSD when they returned home,” says Jennifer Keene, professor of history at Chapman University.

Of course, most women experienced the war stateside, where they tended victory gardens and worked to produce healthy meals from meager rations. They volunteered for the Red Cross and participated in Liberty Loan drives. As Willa Cather learned when she decamped from New York to Red Cloud, Nebraska, in the summer of 1918, the war could be consuming. “In New York the war was one of many subjects people talked about; but in Omaha, Lincoln, in my own town, and the other towns along the Republican Valley, and over in the north of Kansas, there was nothing but the war.” 

In the Library of America volume, W. E. B. Du Bois, who, in the wake of Booker T. Washington’s death, assumed the mantle of spokesman for the black community, provides another take. From the beginning, Du Bois saw the war as grounded in the colonial rivalries and aspirations of the European belligerents. 

Chad Williams, associate professor of African and Afro-American Studies at Brandeis University, says Du Bois was ahead of his time. “His writings also vividly illuminated the tensions between the professed democratic aims of the Allies—and the United States in particular—and the harsh realities of white supremacy, domestically and globally, for black people. Du Bois hoped that by supporting the American war effort and encouraging African-American patriotism, this tension could be reconciled. He was ultimately—and tragically—wrong.” 

Along with Du Bois’s commentary, there are reports on the race riots in East St. Louis and Houston in 1917. Such incidents prompted James Weldon Johnson to cast aside sentimentality and answer the question, “Why should a Negro fight?”

“America is the American Negro’s country,” he wrote. “He has been here three hundred years; that is, about two hundred years longer than most of the white people.” 

The U.S. Army shunted African-American soldiers into segregated units and issued them shovels more often than rifles. Some, however, fought alongside the French as equals, prompting questions about their treatment by their own country. African-American soldiers came home as citizens of the world with questions about their place in American society. “Understanding how the war impacted black people and the importance of this legacy is endlessly fascinating and, given our current times, extremely relevant,” says Williams.

To accompany its World War I volume, Library of America has launched a nationwide program, featuring scholars, to foster discussion about the war and its legacy. One hundred twenty organizations, from libraries to historical societies, are hosting events that involve veterans, their families, and their communities.

“There are veterans of recent conflicts in every community in America for whom the experiences and issues raised by World War I are very immediate,” says Rudin. “We all have something to learn from that.”

“Every war is distinct, and yet every war has almost eerie commonalities with wars past,” says Phil Klay, author of  Redeployment , a collection of short stories about his service in Iraq that won the National Book Award. “I don’t think veterans have a unique authority in these discussions, but our personal experiences do inevitably infuse our reading. In my case, I find myself relentlessly drawn to pull lessons for the future from these readings, as the moral stakes of war have a visceral feel for me.” 

For community programs, Library of America developed a slimmer version of its volume, World War I and America, while adding introductory essays and discussion questions. Keene, Neiberg, and Williams, along with Edward Lengel, served as editors. “There is truly not one part of the nation that was untouched by the war,” says Williams. “This project has the potential to remind people of its far-reaching significance and perhaps uncover new stories about the American experience in the war that we have not yet heard.”

Berg echoes the sentiment. “I hope audiences will appreciate the presence of World War I in our lives today—whether it is our economy, race relations, women’s rights, xenophobia, free speech, or the foundation of American foreign policy for the last one hundred years: They all have their roots in World War I.”

Meredith Hindley is a senior writer for Humanities .

Funding information

Library of America received $500,000  from NEH for nationwide library programs, a traveling exhibition, a website, and a publication of an anthology exploring how World War I reshaped American lives. For more information about the project, visit ww1america.org

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