Wwi And Wwii Essay, Research Paper
I am sure that everyone can agree that war is a terrible thing. Even so, wars are very complex and interesting. There are many facets that one can explore about wars. For instance, one is the similarities and differences of the causes of World War I and World War II.. Another interesting thing to talk about when you think of wars would be all the different countries involved, belligerent or peaceful. Probably the final thing that you should compare and contrast would be how each of the wars ended.
There was one major event that primarily led to the start of WWI. This event was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, who was the nephew of the current Emperor of the Austrian empire and therefore was heir to the throne. The archduke and his wife were shot and killed by Gavrilo Princip in the middle of a parade, who was a member of the Black Hand. The Black Hand was an organization whose goal was to unite all Serbs under one government. As a result of the assassinations, on July 28th the Austria-Hungary empire declared against Serbia. One by one, countries were pulled in due to the alliance system. There were also many reasons that led to the beginning of WWII. A few of these reasons were the Great Depression, the rise of nationalism, and the emergence of leaders such as Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini. The main reason war broke out in Europe was that on September 1, 1939 Germany invaded Poland. The war for the United States didn t begin until Japan bombed Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. So, I think that it is easy to say that there were many more reasons for the start of WWII than for WWI.
Many countries were involved in both of these hellish wars. Most of the countries that took part in WWI were also in WWII. There were two powers in WWI. The first power was called the Central Powers which consisted of Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, and the Ottoman Empire. The other power was called the Allied (Entente) Powers which consisted of Great Britain, Belgium, France, Russia, Romania, Serbia, Italy, Montenegro, Greece, and Albania. The countries that were neutral throughout were Norway, Sweden, Spain, Denmark, and Switzerland. There were many more countries in WWII than in WWI. In WWII, the Allies included Great Britain, Soviet Union, Iran, Iraq, Syria, and the United States. The Axis Powers and the countries they controlled were very numerous. Some of the more important ones were Germany, the Eastern Part of the Soviet Union, France, Poland, Northern Africa, Italy, Austria, and Hungary. All these countries were fighting while Japan was gobbling up islands in the Pacific.
WWI finally ended on June 28, 1919, when the Big Four and leaders of the defeated nations gathered to sign the Treaty of Versailles. In the treaty there was a war-guilt clause which forced Germany to acknowledge to they were solely to blame for WWI. Germany was required to pay reparations in the amount of $33 billion to the Allies. WWII ended on May 8, 1945, which in other words is known as V-E Day. This surrender by the Third Reich can be due to the Soviet invasion of Berlin on April 25, 1945. V-J Day came on September 2, 1945 after two atomic bomb drops.
It is an easy task to compare and contrast two different wars, but to actually understand all the suffering and human indecency that occurred during these world wars is very hard. So, to summarize, both wars were very hard on every nation involved and I can honestly say that I hope the world never has to endure any other catastrophic events such as WWI and WWII ever again.