WW1 AND WWII - Research Paper Example

One can see that loss of life, economic burden, and underdevelopment are the basic elements of tragedy related to the World Wars. Murray Polner states that, “World War I led to 30 million people killed or wounded and disastrous epidemics of disease, plus a multibillion-dollar debt that was never repaid to U.S. creditors and, ultimately, fed into the collapse of the international financial system in 1929.”1 For instance, during WWI (1914-18), the Central Powers and the Allies lost millions of civilians and soldiers.

Besides, economic burden crushed the European nations and new taxes were implemented to overcome the same. As most of the resources were used to gain supremacy in the warfront, the participant nations were forced to face underdevelopment. On the other side, the death toll of WWII (1939-45) was comparatively high due to the usage of innovative nuclear weapons, and the same resulted in high death toll. Still, the economic burden of the WWII was limited to the Axis alliance. At the same time, most of the nations within Allies lost their supremacy over colonies and this resulted in underdevelopment in Europe to an extent.

The controversial issues related to the World Wars are linked with the violation of agreements, usage of deadly weapons, and cruelty towards prisoners. During WWI, the Central Powers continuously violated agreements with other nations in Europe. Besides, deadly weapons were used against civilians, including elderly people and children. The prisoners were ill treated and the same resulted in serious emotional problems among them. During WWII, the Axis powers tried to follow international agreements, but the Allies, especially Germany and Japan, continuously violated the same.

Besides, the usage of deadly weapons like nuclear weapons during WWII attracted international criticism. The Jew population in Central Europe, especially in Germany, was forced to face genocide. At the same time, the prisoners of WWII were