The First and Second World Wars

The First and Second World Wars could almost be seen as the same war separated by a twenty-year break. The major participants were nearly the same and the results were similar. But the differences were very great. There was a major difference in the reasons for fighting the wars, there were significant changes in methods of fighting, the second war truly was global compared with the more local effects of World War I, and in the end the war changed the balance of power in the world.

Nationalist feeling was behind both wars. But there was a major difference in that feeling as expressed by the Germans under the Kaiser and under Hitler. In addition, the responses of the other nations varied accordingly. Though both wars were political there was a difference in aims. In the first war Germany, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and Italy were primarily interested in expanding their influence and gaining territory. There may have been a feeling that the Germanic peoples were superior to others but proving this was not the primary reason for fighting. In addition to wanting to get control over certain relatively small areas in Europe the Germans wanted some of the rest of the world. They had been left behind after getting a late start in the race for colonies in Asia and Africa. France, Britain and even Belgium, Portugal and the Netherlands had done very well out of the international scramble for colonies. Defeating France, Britain and Russia in a war would help Germany and i

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ermany was particularly hard hit). In this atmosphere of instability, fear, and insulted national pride, Hitler and his Nazi ideas seemed like a good way to get the communists under control and reassert German power in the world at large. The Nazi ideal, however, was based on the racial superiority of the Aryan people and the idea of laying some of the blame on the Jews was also appealing to many people. A purely German nation could never be defeated. Totalitarian fascism in Germany was, in part a response to the growing totalitarianism of the Soviet Union and the fear of communism. Fascism in Spain and Italy had similar roots as many people feared the status quo would be permanently upset if communism were not controlled. In Japan, however, the nation's aims were chiefly old-fashioned imperialism of the type the Germans had pursued in World War I. The rise of Fascist ideologies in various nations and Hitler's clear intention of imposing such rule on the rest of Europe meant that while in the previous war the Allies had fought to protect what was theirs (in terms of territory and power) they were now fighting to protect their own forms of government. For the British and the Americans. of course, the fight in the Pacific

Category: History - T