Questions in Social Conflicts - Essay Example

Questions Answer Question Research asserts that, in 1914, tension was building up especially in the European continent. In fact, Europe had split into two conflicting groups. These two groups were fighting with each other in most regions globally. When the two groups clashed, Europe was always viewed as the point of war. Most of the political leaders in the European government did not view war as a problem between different states (Freeman 6). On the contrary, these political leaders usually viewed war as a solution strategy. In addition, the European press always presented war in a romantic analogy. Diplomacy was mainly tied to alliance systems between the central and the allied powers. The Central Powers comprised of Germany, Italy and Austro-Hungary while the allies included France, Britain and Russia (Shaara 8). In fact, according to the print media, warfare was a matter of nationalistic pride. This war was also facilitated by the ignorant nature of the citizens and their apathetic nature to foreign affairs. Additionally, the assassination of Franz Ferdinand beefed up the war in Europe. The assassination of Franz Ferdinand in the summer of 1914 led to the outbreak of the war which involved a Bosnian terrorist who was seeking Bosnian independence. In this period, the Europeans were eager to experience the war. Some of them were even willing to risk their life by fighting in the war. This is because most of the youths and students inculcated the spirit of patriotism and devotion to the state. There are some prominent individuals who influenced the citizens substantially in believing that the war encouraged togetherness in the country (Shaara 9). Question #2 In the 1920s, there was a great reaction in the world which was caused by the wars in the world. The Great War is also known as World War I. According to most individuals, the Great War was a unique war because it involved several countries. Further analysis also depicts that the Great War involved huge life losses. Approximately 10 million men were killed. In fact, the Great War differed from the expectations of the generals and the majority of the Europeans. Most individuals thought that the war would last a single winter. However, the war lasted for four years. The main reason why the Great War differed so much from the expectations of the generals and the Europeans was because; both the military and diplomatic plans of the political leaders had failed in Europe (Shaara 18). In addition, the technological innovations had changed the warfare at the battlefield. In this period, the introduction of machine guns, battleships and airplanes significantly affected the war both at sea and on land. The machine guns favored most of the defense schemes employed by countries. The airplanes were mostly utilized for the survey but, bombs were not used in the war. The main warfare took place in Northern France, Southeastern Europe and Russia. In these areas, most of the people who were killed were the men. This is because the individuals in the warzone were not able to predict the extensiveness of the war. This war also created a gulf between military and civilian populations (Shaara 10). Question #3 Total war was a military quarrel whereby numerous countries mobilized all the available resources in order to destroy the ability of other nations to participate in war. This practice of total war was significantly utilized in the 19th century. Total war was also recognized as a separate class of warfare. Research asserts that total war was mainly caused by industrialization. It is quite prevalent that World War I influenced the birth of total war in the industrial age. During this period, soldiers faced each other in battlegrounds that had become extremely lethal due to the advancement in warfare machinery. There was no war witnessed in history such as the First World War. The main reason why this war was significant as opposed to other wars was because it had a long-term effect on the industrial revolution. According to various scholars in the discipline of history and political science, this war was accompanied with several political and social changes. World War I also presented the killing supremacy, power and pliability of the modernized countries (Freeman 3). Additionally, this war was also fought by the patriotic individuals. The success of the military troops in this war was largely dependent on the ability of a nation to supply the necessary resources required by the military forces. As a country, Germany was able to supply these goods. Hence, they survived the British naval blockade. Germany also offered help to the Austria-Hungarian soldiers in the war. The phrase “home front” was also first used during this war. It symbolized a concept of war whereby the civilians were also involved in the war. In this context, the women were also occupied in a number of the actions that were performed by the men (Shaara 18). Question #4 During World War I, peace was achieved by the signing of a peace treaty. A treaty can be identified as a harmony between two or more groups. The treaty that was signed by the warring parties was known as the Treaty of Versailles. This treaty signified the end of the war between the Allied Powers and Germany. This treaty was officially signed on 28th June, 1919 after the assassination of Franz Ferdinand (Freeman 19). However, the actual fighting had already stopped after the signing of the armistice in November, 1918. After this, the peace conference of Paris took another six months to conclude the negotiations between the warring parties in order to officiate the treaty. In this treaty, the Germans accepted the liability for causing the war. There were other separate treaties that were also signed by the other Central Powers which were on the German side. Moreover, there were negotiations among the Allied Powers which took place in Paris. In these negotiations, there were 70 delegates from 27 different countries who took part in the negotiations (Shaara 15). There were several countries that were excluded from the negotiations including Hungary, Russia, Austria and Germany. In these negotiations, the final verdict was provided by the British Prime Minister, the American President and the French Prime Minister. These individuals were known as the Big Three. This treaty also included several restrictions, which were based on the military and Germany. The treaty of Versailles was mainly supposed to ensure that peace prevails in nations that were involved in war. Furthermore, the war was supposed to punish Germany since they were solely responsible for the war. Leading countries sought to organize and clean out the closet of their past. Countries realized that power, popularity and prosperity were not the answers to human suffering, since leading world powers had them all, but still felt incomplete. Countries realized that in order to live in a perpetual cycle of well-being it turns into boredom. Hence, it was vital to stress the challenges in life instead of fighting in order to exist. The aspect of Peace was measured against sadness and stress. This made leading World War I arbitrators stress that the ability of achieving peace totally depended on a country’s ability to want peace. These were the main insights to the attainment of peace in World War I. Question #5 World War I augmented some of the predicaments in Russia. This war resulted into a weak government in Russia which resulted to hunger and other shortages. The failures of the war significantly made the citizens of the country oppose the Tsar government. The revolution in Russia was as a result of the violence that was employed by the Tsar government to the citizens. Russia was ruled by dictators because the Duma parliament had no influence on the Tsar’s government. In 1917, Tsar lost control of Duma, the soldiers and the streets which resulted to a forced abdication in the same year. The military team and the members of the Duma had joined the rebellion which forced the Tsar to abdicate (Shaara 20). The main blunder that was made by the Tsar government was the fact that it took control of the army which was blamed for the defeat. This attributed to major chaos in the government. This revolution took place in February 1917 (Freeman 14). The Great War largely impacted the revolution in Russia. The Russian military team was affected by the German military team. Therefore, the industries in Russia were not able to provide enough materials for the war. This also affected the railway network in Russia. The Tsar government had also dismissed the commander-in-chief and controlled the war. However, Nicholas who was an inept and puny leader was the cause of the downfall after he was influenced by the citizens. Question #6 During the negotiations after World War I, Prince Max of Germany contacted one the president of United States in that period to ask for an armistice. The armistice was an agreement that was aimed to stop the war. This armistice created several predicaments in the European stability. According to various sources, the economy of Europe was destroyed after World War I. In this case, the agricultural industry was significantly affected after the war was over. Therefore, the trade in Europe dwindled hence; there were no job opportunities in England (Freeman 18). The collapsing of the economic sectors had an enormous impact on the government of the United States. It also affected other countries, which were dependent on the United States. Germany was also restricted to the economy of America. When the United States loans were due, matters grew worse. The public opinion after the war became more philosophical. This led to a division between the fascists and the socialists (Freeman 18). Question #7 The victory of Stalin over Trotsky had a major influence on the economic growth in the Soviet Union (Shaara 19). Trotsky usually favored exporting of the revolution while Stalin, on the other hand, focused in socialism, in one country. In 1920, the death of Lenin affected the leadership in the Soviet Union. In this case, the communists had a conflict regarding the action to be taken to improve the economy that had significantly been affected by the civil war. According to various scholars, the intelligence and ambitions of Trotsky isolated most leaders from the communist side. This made Trotsky flee to Mexico where he was assassinated. His roles were taken up by Stalin who was regarded as a shrewd politician. Stalin had prior knowledge regarding the traditions of the tsarist tyranny. Therefore, Stalin easily subordinated agriculture with industrialization in the Soviet Union. He employed the propaganda worker contest which was aimed at industrial growth. In the 1930s, the industrial output of the Soviet Union had been augmented significantly. This amazed most of the Westerners. Furthermore, Stalin ruled a dictatorial state. He was identified as the leader of the Communist party. Stalin was also liable for the death of many opponents in the political field. Stalin ensured that the constitution was drafted to ensure that he led a tyrannical state. The political and economic programmes of Trotsky and Stalin were identical. Stalin’s rule was aimed at suppressing the economic growth of the Soviet Union through a tyrannical rule (Freeman 27). Question #8 Fascism can be described as a drastic dictatorial nationalist political philosophy. In most cases, fascism aims at eliminating foreign influence. The term fascism was derived from a Roman symbol (Shaara 29). Research asserts that fascism was first employed during World War I. In addition, fascism was employed in the opposition of several philosophies including conservatism, liberalism and socialism. As a matter of fact, fascism promotes a mixed economy. Fascism was alluring to the Germans, Italians and Europeans. However, this movement was considered racist, hyper-nationalistic and antisocialist. The Europeans were allured by the fascism based on their long history. This history also includes Asia and Africa but excludes the North American continent (Freeman 19). The Italians felt that they had not been compensated after World War I while the Germans believed that they had been punished severely. Fascism was attractive to the soldiers who had left the battlefield and were not patient. In 1930, this movement had a mass appealing in Europe and the Iberian Peninsula. In other countries, the Fascist movement was caused by the economic predicaments among businesses. Most of the fascist individuals depicted the struggle of race as one of the fundamental aspects in a society (Freeman 20). Question #9 Lebensraum was a word which was utilized by Hitler to validate the development of the German Reich in colonizing Eastern Europe. According to various historical sources, Adolf Hitler championed anti-Semitism, rearmament and autarky. Hitler was a socialist but not an economic theorist. He directed the rearmament of Germany which led to the Poland invasion hence; causing the World War II outbreak (Freeman 29). On 3rd February, 1933, there was a meeting of all the military leaders of Germany. During this meeting, Hitler talked about the conquest of Lebensraum. The economic crisis had been caused by Hitler’s rearmament efforts. Later on, the growing economic instability forced him to make defense cuts based on his rearmament efforts. This was aimed at strengthening Germany especially after it withdrew from the League of Nations. Germany also wanted to avoid any threats from the Russians (Freeman 23). Anti-Semitism budded after Germany was defeated in World War I. Hitler advocated for anti-Semitism in order to blame the Jews from Germany for all the predicaments that the country was facing. In addition, anti-Semitism was employed to blame the Jews for Depression and the Bolshevik Revolution (Freeman 31). Finally, Hitler also advocated for autarky so as to devise materials which would strengthen the military forces of Germany and improve the economy of the country. Autarky also ensured that Germany was self-reliant especially in the provision of natural resources. The dependence of Germany on other countries had led to their loss during World War I (Freeman 34). Question #10 During the 1930s, the leadership in the Eastern European countries was quite inexperienced (Freeman 33). The leaders in these countries were also unable to sustain the economy of their countries due to political, ethnical and military division. In countries like Spain, the civil war destroyed the establishment created by leaders of the church, aristocracy and army. In most of the countries in Europe, the democratic rule proved to be frail because the people were preoccupied with fear and impact of war and the depression, which divided the individuals into communists and fascists. Further research points out that most of the countries had been divided by the dictatorial rule of political leaders in various countries (Freeman 23). Europe was vastly affected by this dictatorial rule. Stalin and Hitler are some of the leaders who ruled their countries in a dictatorship methodology. This tyrannical rule of the leaders made their countries unsuccessful in the economic sector. This proved that the leaders of the country had failed in their duties. Most of the leaders undermined the practice of democracy in their countries. In Europe, the frail nature of the leaders was fatal especially during the wars (Freeman 24). Works cited Freeman, Gregory. The Forgotten 500: The Untold Story of the Men Who Risked All for the Greatest Rescue Mission of World War II. Yugoslavia: NAL Trade Publishers, 2008. Print. Shaara, Jeff. To the Last Man: A Novel of the First World War. New York: Ballantine Publishers, 2005. Print. Read More