Differences between the Second World War and the First World War - Essay Example

Differences between the Second World War and the Fist World War Introduction The First World War was a military clash involving majority of the world powerful nations that occurred between 1914 and 1918 (Strachan 2003). The end of the First World War elicited a deep assurance and almost widespread hope that ultimately peace would be re-established in the world. This was however not meant to be since in the late 1930s the world was full of tension again. From 1939 to 1945 the Second World War which was an international military clash that involved most countries in the world including the most powerful nations later came into being (Gilbert 2004). Albeit the First World War and the Second World War were both military clashes, there are several disparities between them in terms of the way they happened, and the causes and effects behind their occurrence. Statement While the First World War was sparked by killing of an heir, the Second World War was mainly due to Hitler’s aims and actions. The Fist World War is alleged to have been sparked by the elimination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand; a successor to the Austro-Hungarian throne in Sarajevo at the hands of a Serbian nationalist clandestine society. This single event translated into a mechanical trail of events that later resulted into the First World War. Several pacts that had been formed in the past ten years or so were cancelled and in a matter of weeks major world powerful nations were in deep conflict. Its spread to other parts of the world was as a result of colonial paths usually followed by colonized countries in support of their colonial powers. Austria-Hungary is said to have responded to the killing of their heir in a delayed period of three weeks. Though Ferdinand was not loved that much by the Emperor and his government, the Austro-Hungarians claimed that the Serbian government was associated with the plot of the Black Hand; in this regard they opted to take the chance to pound its power on the Serbians. The nationalist movement was crushed and Austria-Hungary’s persuasion on Balkans was strengthened. Austria-Hungary issued an ultimatum to Serbia that the murderers be brought to justice effectively hence undermining the sovereignty of Serbia. The intention behind their ultimatum was that a rejection by Serbia would give them a go ahead to open a restricted war against Serbia. The risks involved were that Serbia was allied to Russia and Austro-Hungary to Germany. On discovering that Germany had agreed to defend Austro-Hungary in case Russia participated, Russia declared war on Austro-Hungary. The fact that Austria-Hungary was displeased with Serbia’s reaction to the provocation made it declare war on Serbia (Strachan 2003). Russia which is bound by agreement to Serbia proclaimed that it would marshal its vast army in defence of Serbia for an estimated period of six weeks. On the other hand, Germany which is allied to Austria-Hungary interpreted Russia’s move as an act of war against Serbia and therefore declared war against Russia. France which is bound by agreement to Russia also declared its position against Germany; Germany was quick in intruding Belgium which was a neutral party so as to get to Paris as quick as possible. Britain which was allied to France by a rather weak agreement and had unique plans to defend Belgium also declared war against Germany. With the entry of Britain into the conflict, many of its colonies such as Canada, India, New Zealand, South Africa and Australia assisted Britain in offering the needed military assistance. The United States which had initially declared a neutral stance in the war was compelled to engage in it later after Germany came up with an unlimited submarine warfare policy that gravely intimidated its commercial shipping company. Italy which was dedicated to defend also had declared a neutral position but later defended Germany and Austro-Hungary. Japan which is allied to Britain by a military treaty also declared war against Germany; Austria-Hungary also declared war against Japan in response to Japan’s announcement (Gilbert 2004). On the other hand, the Second World War was caused by hostility against Hitler’s aims and ways of leadership. Hitler’s main aims were to amalgamate the German speaking nations, control Europe and the world and living space in order to gain autonomy; to attain these aims meant that the Treaty of Versailles had to be disregarded. Italy which was one of Hitler’s allies wanted a Fascist-Roman empire in the Mediterranean and Africa while Japan wanted a Nipponese empire in the Pacific, stretching to Australia and China. Together with Germany, the two countries became hostile to the USSR and hence a war ensued. It is however worth noting that unlike in the First World War democratic powers such as the USA, France and Britain remained unreceptive. The United States, for example, cut itself out while France would not engage in a war against Germany since Britain and America were unlikely to support it; Britain was sympathetic since Germany was recovering from the First World War. Should these countries have intervened, maybe the Fascist aggression would not have taken place. Gilbert (2004) claims the Second World War was a product of the Fascist aggression and the lack of the democratic powerful nations to stop it from escalating further. Rearmament of Germany was one of the steps among other steps that were involved in the Second World War. This happened after Hitler opposed the recommendations established in the Geneva Disarmament Conference claiming that disarmament would not reach his level and therefore there was no need; in fact, he promised to rearm Germans and this astounded the French who reinforced the Maginot line but remained inactive since Britain did not support them. The second step that Hitler took and broke the Treaty of Versailles a second time was the remilitarization of Rhineland. He marched 30,000 troops into Cologne, showed his popularity and built his own defensive reinforcement called the Siegfried Line (Gilbert 2004). French who mobilized a quarter million troops remained passive since Britain did not support them. The Mussolini were then threatened with oil sanctions against them by Britain and as victims of circumstance, they became allied to Hitler hence resulting into the Rome-Berlin Axis. With more allies, Hitler also ensnared Britain since Neville Chamberlain, the British Prime Minister misconstrued Hitler’s ill intentions for good aims (Gilbert 2004). Hitler also incited a union with Austria by tricking Schuschnigg, an Australian Chancellor, to accept his ally to serve as minister; the ally caused a riot that favoured Hitler. Austria lost Sudetenland and hence Sudetenland was acquired by Hitler. In a bid to gain more German speaking nations, Hitler coerced Lithuania to give him Memel where most people spoke German. The next plan that Hitler had in mind was invasion of Poland; however, Hitler was categorical that any plans to invade Poland had to ensure Russia is not involved. To avoid a war on Britain and Russia at the same time, Hitler created the Nazi-Soviet Pact. However, in preparation of Hitler’s attack, the USSR rearmed itself. The last step that saw the war go worldwide was the German attack of Poland. German attacked West Prussia by coordinating air attacks and then land forces; this caused Britain and France to declare war against Germany. Therefore, while the Second World War was a struggle for power by Germany; the First World War was much of an alliance breakdown resulting from a strictly limited war. It is evident that Germany was involved in both wars; in the First World War, Germany was just a participant supporting Austro-Hungary while in the Second World War, it was the main cause of the conflicts (Gilbert 2004). In the First World War, Germany had inherent problems as it was unprepared in a social context and unready military-wise. For instance due to the great number of socialist deputies elected, Chancellor Bethmann-Hollweg had a very low chance of convincing Reichstag, the autocratic Wilhelm and the military high command. As a result, Bethmann-Hollweg became hopeless believing that to avoid civic turbulence Germany had one alternative; to engage into a short-term war. He however noted that there was a likelihood of some severe consequences such as a European conflict. Germany’s unsettlement in the First World War came up since Kaiser Wilhelm II was finding himself highly irritated in his longing to create a grand majestic role for Germany. While he longed for a bright place, other colonial powers had come his way leaving only the dark sides for him. However, Wilhelm II was not devoted for a grand war; he even failed to predict the implications of a military pomposity, his devotion in constructing land and navy forces that outdo those of France and Britain. Nonetheless, his government and his military commanders confidently expected what was to come. A scheme to engage Russia and France in a war on two fronts had long been anticipated and considered. Other disparities between the First World War and the Second World War are their specific effects on different parts of the world. Though the First World War stemmed from a strict conflict between two countries its ramifications were profound; over 70 million soldiers were involved and over 15 million people perished in the war (Gilbert 2004). These ramifications made the First World War recognized as one of the most lethal conflicts in history. Conversely, in the Second World War more military personnel were deployed but the number of people killed was not proportionate to that of the First World War. Apart from the direct ramifications and effects mentioned earlier, the First World War had other effects with the main one being the smashing of European political arrangement. Since an whole cohort of men had died in the brutal conflict, the Russian, German and Austro-Hungarian Empires stopped existing and several national groups that had earlier been under good management grabbed the chance to proclaim sovereignty. The united powers France and Britain, although they conquered, were worn out and nearly became insolvent. Russia was trembled by revolution, since Lenin’s Bolshevik pressure group grabbed control and launched unending hostilities against the economic parties utilizing capitalism. Germany was held responsible for the First World War by the Treaty of Versailles and coerced to pay compensation to the victorious Allies and to yield territory to France and a re-established Poland. The Bolsheviks briefly attacked Poland in 1920 but were conquered by Polish soldiers. The Austro-Hungarian Empire crumpled and Czechoslovakia disaffiliated itself and other territories went to Italia, Poland, Serbia and Romania. These alterations were made eternal by the Treaty of Saint-Germain, which also offered Serbia the Austrian Adriatic Fleet. Bulgaria gave up small segments of its territory to Yugoslavia, Greece and Romania. However, the most overwhelming effect of the First World War that makes the war one of its kind is the influenza outbreak which started at the battlefield; it was transmitted by military personnel to other parts of the world and caused more fatalities and affected more nations than the martial war itself. Other unique implications of the First World War were effects of the war on German-Australians. German Australians who were over a hundred thousand in Australia are said to have had the most difficult time ever during the First World War. The German-Australians who were admired for their huge role in South Australia now became victims of the anti-German frenzy that existed amidst the British-Australians who counted every German as an enemy. In contrary, most of the German-Australians were in the Australian army; the most popular commander was a loyal German-Australian and several German-Australian military personnel had perished in the war while defending Australia. German-Australians started being discriminated by British-Australians and as a result job opportunities became scarce for them. For example, according to First World War (n.d) several mayors and councillors including the mayor of Rainbow in Mallee had to step down just because they were of German origin. German schools had to be shut down and many German-Australians had to change their names to avoid being identified with their German origin. Paul Schubert, a teacher in a school in Adelaide had to alter his name to Paul Stuart to keep his job (The First World War n.d). Unlike the First World War, implications of the Second World War were swept through the whole globe (Parker 2001). Germany was split into four sections that were run by Great Britain, France, United Sates and the Soviet Union. Other imperative effects were the re-demarcation of European borders and the origin of the United Kingdom. China and Eastern Europe established a communist system, Israel was created and Germany split with Vietnam and Korea. A world that was formerly ruled by many nations bore two superpowers: the United States and the Soviet Union. Unlike the First World War, worldwide organizations such the World Trade Organization, The United Nations and International Monetary Fund were borne by the Second World War. A wide range of know-how including the computer, nuclear technology and the jet engine also came up during the Second World War. However, unlike the First World War in which damages were to be paid by Germany, the Second World War implicated several nations. Churchill and Churchill (1986) reveal that Hungary, Romania and Finland were to pay $300 million to the Soviet Union while Italy was to pay $360 million. Germany’s compensation was in form of capital goods and forced labour to Russia. The superpowers also made arrangements to disarm Germany of the war weapons it had. Conclusion The First World War and the Second World War may have been similar in that both were military in nature but they differ significantly in context and the cause and effects involved vary considerably. While the First World War was as a result of reaction to the assassination of a Serbian heir; the Second World War stemmed from aggression due to Hitler’s aims to control and acquire German speaking nations. While the First World War involved world’s powerful nations, the Second World War involved many countries including the super powers. Both of the wars were highly fatal but most deaths in the First World War were as a result of influenza. Lastly, the First World War affected Europe to a great extent while effects of the Second World War were felt worldwide. References Churchill, W & Churchill, WS 1986, The Second World War: The Gathering storm, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Gilbert, M 2004, The First World War: a complete history, Henry Holt. Gilbert, M 2004, The Second World War: a complete history, Henry Holt. Parker, AC 2001, The Second World War: a short history, Oxford University Press. Strachan, H 2003, The First World War: to arms, Oxford University Press. The First World War n.d, The effects of the First World War on Australia’s German-speakers, Viewed 25 April 2010, < http://www.teachers.ash.org.au/dnutting/germanaustralia/e/ww1.htm> Read More