World War 1 - Essay Example

?World War World War is a war that was fought between the year 1914 and 1918 (Watson 25). Apparently, it has been difficult to determine and exhaust the reasons as to why this war took place as the topic remains contentious due to different ideologies among the scholars, who continue to debate from different point of views and perspectives. However, there are outright reasons, which have been acknowledged across the board as the major contributing factors. These are for example the existence of alliances among like minded nations. Before the start of the war, it had emerged that nations across Europe were organizing them selves into formidable groupings, which were primarily for the purpose of protecting each other in case one of them was attacked by an enemy. Such defense agreements existed between countries such as Russia and Serbia, Britain and Japan, France and Russia, Germany and Austria Hungary as well as between Britain, France and Belgium (Gilbert 41). This means for example that if Germany attacked Russia, then this would have forced Serbia and France to come in and assist Russia, forcing Austria Hungary to join forces with Russia thereby triggering a major conflict. These countries had also joined hands with other countries to form the triple alliance and the triple entente. The triple alliance consisted of Germany, Italy and Austria Hungary while the triple entente had Britain, France, and Russia who were the major participants though Japan, Spain and the US later joined the entente. However, these forces applied diplomacy in most of the conflicts arising before 1914 but in the real sense, there was the lack of trust and a lot of suspicion such that there only required a triggering force for a war to explode (Gilbert 63). This is to imply that if these defensive groups had not been established before 1914, probably the First World War would never have occurred. Nevertheless, it is important to note that apart from the alliances, these countries had been scrambling for territories in Africa and Asia, in search of raw materials for their industries as well as procurement of slaves to provide labor to these industries. As such, the diplomatic relation among the European countries had been soured owing to the fact that some, such as Britain and France, had already encroached vast territories in these areas and Germany and other European powers wanted a share of the economic advantages. On the other hand, Britain and France had to maintain their territories and if possible, expand them even if it meant invading the few territories that Germany had (Gilbert 101). However, these provocations did not warrant a world war but in the long run, they created a circumstance whereby each and every country was searching for a reason to go into war with each other. In addition, the arms race had been going on for a long time with the superpowers trying to outdo each other either on the land or at sea. This increased military activity in Europe and as a result, it enhanced the level of threat by facilitating motivation to build weapons and equipment capable of sustaining heavy fighting. In deed, the arms race helped much to deteriorate the level of trust between the would be super powers as each felt threatened by the existence of a rival with a much more military power and technology capable of suppressing opposition and gaining uncontrollable influence in the region. Britain for example invested heavily on the navy as the country is well surrounded by water and as a result, Germany went ahead to spend a lot of money to procure the Dreadnought war ships for fear of being overpowered in case Britain decided to attack from the ocean (Hough 36). Despite these factors, the assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria Hungary by a Serbian nationalist i.e. Gavrilo Princip, acted as the major direct triggering factor towards the WW1. Apparently, it has been observed that the murder was supposed to act as a sign to show Germany and Austria Hungary that the Slavic people were willing to go to any extent to regain their freedom from these two powers, which had a lot of control over these people. Contrary to this expectation, Austria Hungary blamed Serbia for the murder and as a result, it demanded Serbia to allow police officers from Austria Hungary to investigate the murder, which was unacceptable to the nationalistic Serbians who had gone to the extent of forming gangs such as the Black Hand, which indeed carried out the murder. Consequently, Austria Hungary declared war on Serbia thereby giving the alliances a reason to intervene hence the World War 1 (Caplan 102). Impacts of World War 1 By the end of the war, it is estimated that more than 10 million soldiers lost their lives while more than 20 million sustained serious injuries. In addition, Germany and its associates in the alliance lost a lot of territories and as a result, poverty and disease rocked the country leading to massive deaths. The League of Nations was also established to maintain peace though it failed to fulfill its mandate. Germany also was forced into signing the Treaty of Versailles, which to a greater extent increased the level of nationalism in the country, leading to the strengthening of Nazism, and the coming into power by Hitler who provoked the Second World War (Gilbert 145). World War 2 The World War 2 started in 1939 between the Axis and the Allies, after Germany apparently invaded Poland, though it is believed that just as in the World War 1, this was just an excuse as there were more underlying factors such as the treaty of Versailles. The axis comprised of Germany, Italy and Japan while the allies comprised of Britain, Russia and the US. Apparently, Germany was blamed for starting the First World War and as a result, leaders from Italy, England, France and the US met to deliberate on how to punish the country. Consequently, they came up with the Treaty which contained conditions that were meant to neutralize Germany. For example, Germany was to pay ?6,600 million as a compensation for the damages caused. In addition, territories occupied by Germany were to be taken away and given to other nations while the military had to be reduced significantly. Germany accepted these conditions but due to the rising poverty, Hitler was appointed the leader and started to go against the treaty. Russia, Hungary, Bulgaria among others had also lost territories during the WW1 and they were to stop at nothing to reclaim them (Keegan 36-41). The League of Nations also failed to fulfill its mandate of maintaining world peace due to its lack of support from members. The league was formed to ensure that diplomacy was embraced in solving all disputes and if one member acted in the contrary, it had to suffer economic sanctions and if this failed, only then would force be used to suppress its aggression. Countries such as Japan and Italy were suffering economically and as such, they decided to expand their territories with Japan invading China and Italy invading Abyssinia under the watchful eye of the league. Countries such as Britain and France feared Italy would attack them if they acted hence their lack of interest on the matter (Eubank 56). Impacts of World War 2 It is estimated that WW2 claimed more than 20 million soldiers and 40 million innocent civilians. Some of these died as a result of widespread massacre for example the Holocaust in Germany, The Nanking Massacre in China among others. Famine and disease also claimed a lot of lives whereas the whole world suffered an economic crisis, which was difficult to control. Technology in the warfare also advanced considerably as opposed to WW1, when there was little aeronautical engagement. At the conclusion of the war, the United Nations, which is still operational, was formed to replace the non-functional League of Nations (Eubank 100-110). Works Cited Caplan, James. Causes of World War I: Balkan Wars, Gavrilo Princip, Black Hand, July Crisis, Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, University of Washington Press, 2010 Eubank, Keith. World War II: Roots and Causes, D. C. Heath and Company, 2002 Gilbert, Martin. The First World War, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2004 Hough, Richard. Great War at Sea: 1914-1918, Birlinn, 2001 Keegan, John. The Second World War, Penguin, 2002 Watson, Robert. The Rise of Nationality in the Balkans, BiblioBazaar, 2009 Read More