War has always been a part of modern life and the development of every state in the globe. Some people fought to become independent, others fought to increase their authority, and some fought because they were allied with the fighting state. The way things are today has been greatly impacted by war. There were some similarities and variations between World War 1 and World War 2. Any conflict involving two or more military parties, countries, or states is referred to as a military conflict. The use of armed conflict between the two sides, war tactics, and procedures are all included in the military conflict, in which both of them might be government states resulting in warfare. In the 20th century, American history faced two major wars in their history. The wars are the first world war one and the Second World War.
The First World War began in 1914 and lasted until 1918. During the war, Germany, Bulgaria, Austria- Hungary together with the Ottoman Empire formed the central powers, while France, Italy, Russia, Romania, Japan and the Great Britain together formed the Allied powers. The Second World War began on 1939 and lasted up to 1945, and it involved the world's great powers forming two conflicting military alliances, the axis and the allies (Bradford, James p.200).
The axis was formed with the alliance of Germany, Italy, and Japan against the Allied which comprised of the alliances of Great Britain, France and the United States of America. The two wars had similarities and differences associated with them. This paper will talk about some of the similarities and differences of the two military conflicts or wars.
Similarities of World War 1 and 2
World War 1 and 2 are the major conflicts encountered in the history globally. The two wars had many things in common. These world wars can be categorized into various themes which include: The powers involved, compilation of Allied Forces trying to get rid of the worldly hazard, the final outcomes of the wars, innovations as a result of technology, economic advantages to the United States, terrible fighting situations as well as the conflicts that resulted in many deaths of people (Tucker 143). The Allied powers involved in world war 1 include Russia, France, Great Britain, United States-Belgium, Japan, Italy as well as Belgium.
Wars have transformed through time and the manner they happened. Though nowadays nations stop countries to fight against one another as a result of the devastations it causes to both nations and its inhabitants, World War 1 and 2 transformed many things that we see at the moment. The leaders who came as a result of these wars and ideology at the back of it were certainly amazing.
World War 1 was as a result of alliances that countries like Hungary and Germany created. When either of the state announced war on another state, the states that reinforced its allies came in to inflicted additional damage worsening the situation. Countries that joined World War 1 were more fervent when compared to World War 2. On the contrary, world war2 happened because German was not happy with Versailles Treaty. German invaded Poland, and this prompted the beginning of World War 2.
In the First World War, the military soldiers battled in trenches that were horrifying for them to withstand. It was in this instance that the soldiers applied to machine guns flamethrowers and tanks. Therefore, it took long for them to get along with it (Bradford, James p.205). On the other hand, World War 2 applied radar as well as other machinery that war more sophisticated in that time. The most things that could not be forgotten were the atomic bomb use.
World War 1 left behind little destruction when compared to with the Second World War. The first World War resulted in the death of more than 24 million people while World War 2 caused over 60 million deaths globally (Bradford, James p.205). However, the first war had a better outcome that was the development of the League of Countries that assisted in enhancing peace and unity among nations (McManus, Johnp.120). The First World War as well emerged new nations that collaborated throughout the war. On the other hand, World War 2 terminated with many countries dissolving and many individuals killed for their crimes during the war.
Both World War 1 and 2 left a mark on history, however, both share some features. Firstly, wars were post –industrial where the wealth possession was involved, economic as well as human resources of the countries was involved (McManus, Johnp.125). Additionally, the United States and Europe had their attainments of affluence particularly America the moment Europe moved their affluence to United States companies. The greatest similarity between world war1 and 2 was that Germany was the country that commenced the war. It was as a result of their military approaches. German militarism was among the similarities that caused these wars.
Differences between First and Second World Wars
World War one and two had several differences amongst them. The differences are as follows;
Racism was one of the differences. In the first word war, there was no racism in alliances of parties that engaged in the conflict hence, states or nations that engaged in the war fought for nationalism and pride of their nations. While in the Second World War there was racism and alliances among parties were formed mainly through similarities of the parties' races and superiorities.
Another difference was the causes of the two major world wars. The First World War was caused by Serbia, which desired to possess independence over the empire, which led to countries such as Germany, which supported the independence of Serbia from the empire, will lose their control of supremacy if Russia supported Serbia (Tucker, Spencer p.145). If Germany confirms war, Serbia will also lose their independence since the Empire supported by Germany. Russia organizes an army, which led the Germany to declare war. Allied Powers collaborated with Russia while the Central Powers collaborated with Germany, which caused First World War.
On the other hand, Hitler caused the Second World War since he wanted to Slavs land by himself. It caused a fight between Axis Power and European Allied Forces. Pearl Harbor was bombed by Japan which led to the United States to enter into Second World War.
Fighting tactics of world war was another cause of First and Second World War. These fighting tactics were the very deadly technique of battle (McManus, Johnp.128). Machine-guns and the tanks were introduced in the First World War as well as heavy victims suffered through machine –gun operators. The major Fighting tactics during Second World War was known as island hopping. Warfare methods by island hopping were used in the U.S Pacific stage as well as use the marines to get Small Islands one by one.
Location of fighting contributed in the First World War and the Second World War. First World War used Eastern Europe, North Africa, and Western Europe as their fighting areas while in the Second World War they used Europe as their area of fighting which involved the European Nations and the United States as well. World War 1 suffered more conflict due to lack of enough area which led them to move some miles during the end of the war than the world war two. d World War two expanded all over the world compared to the First World War.
All in all, this was a horrible moment. However, that was the past. We must focus on the future. Even though World War 1 and 2 were terrible, America at long last overcame it.
Works Cited
Bradford, James C. A Companion to American Military History. Chichester, U.K: Wiley-Blackwell Pub, 2010. Internet resource.
McManus, John C. U.S. Military History for Dummies. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley Pub, 2008. Internet resource.
Tucker, Spencer. Almanac of American Military History. Santa Barbara, Calif: ABC-CLIO, 2013. Print.
