Jonathan Barnes

Period 3

Contemporary Literature

Mr. Smith

January 10, 2010

World War I vs. World War II

World War I and World War II are the most devastating wars that the world has

ever seen. Both wars had mind blowing impacts and shaped the world as it is today.

When World War I was fought at the beginning of the 20th Century it earned several

names such as The Great War and The War to End All Wars. After World War I, it was

concluded that no other war ever fought by man was as terrible. Europe was in ruins as

was other areas of the globe such as Africa and Asia. The outcomes of World War I

sparked an even more deadly conflict twenty years later. Despite the similarities of both

wars, World War I and World War II are two very different conflicts. There are three

major factors of both wars that are easily identified as similar and different. The three

factors are the political fallout of both wars, the amount of death and destruction

generated by both wars, and the use of new equipment and war techniques.

The leaders during World War I and World War II are perhaps more famous than

any other world leaders. Ruling a nation during times of war is difficult, but when your

nation is involved in a war where the leading nations of the world are going at it, that

takes a lot of talent to maintain your country. The main similarity between the world

leaders of World War I and World War II was the push for victory. All sides wanted to

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claim victory and politicians would resort to drastic measures in order to win. In the final

months of World War II, Adolf Hitler ordered all German soldiers to fight the Soviet

Union till the very end. When the Soviets marched into Berlin, Hitler ordered all

Germans to fight in the defense of the Third Reich. The old, the young and the weak

alike had to fight against the Russians in their final stand. During World War I, the

German Emperor Kaiser Wilhelm forced Germany to keep up the fighting until the very

end of the war. Wilhelm was desperate for victory and he ordered all Germans to keep

pushing even though the war should have ended by that time. In the United States,

President Woodrow Wilson decided to enter World War I during its final years and

defeat a weakened Germany. Wilson wanted to end the War and the American

soldiers sent to Europe did exactly that. President Truman at the end of World War II

was granted use of the deadliest weapon ever developed so that America could defeat

Japan and end the war once and for all. The leaders of both wars are very different

from each other despite their common ambitions to win. European leaders of World

War I were all related by blood. World War I could be seen as a family feud except

using the citizens of their nations to fight in the struggle for dominating Empires.

Leaders of World War II were not related at all and World War II was truly a good vs.

evil conflict. There was struggle for domination like in World War I but this time there

was much more involved. Hitler invaded nations in Europe and citizens of those nations

were now under the oppression of the Nazi government. Mussolini in Italy wanted to

rebuild the Roman Empire. It wasn’t long until he teamed up with Hitler and together

their plan was to dominate all of Europe. The final member of this sinister alliance was

Japan’s Emperor Hirohito. Hirohito wanted to unite Asia under the rule of the Japanese.

He felt that Japan was the most dominating power in Asia and nations like China soon

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lost their rights and were under Japanese oppression. These three leaders came

together and formed the Axis powers of World War II with what seemed like one

common goal, rule the Earth. The Allied powers of World War II which included the

United States, the British Empire and the newly formed Soviet Union came together with

this common goal, stop the Axis no matter what. The attitudes of the political leaders

during both wars flowed into the citizens of their nations. Speeches and propaganda

convinced men to dawn a uniform pick up a rifle and go to war. Most of these brave

men faced a terrible fate.

The push for win attitude of every world leader generated a lot of deaths in both

wars. World War I had an estimated 15 million deaths and World War II had an

estimated 60 million deaths. Both wars had much death involved, however they are

different in this factor too because the deaths of World War I mainly affected military

personal while in World War II, civilian deaths were much greater than military deaths.

World War I was much more contained then World War II. World War I had assigned

battlefields while in World War II, everywhere was a potential battlefield. Modern

technology of World War II made it so that cities could be easily targeted and bombed.

The facts that World War II could be fought anywhere at any time and with new long

range travel technology, civilians were more vulnerable to death than soldiers. The

Holocaust during World War II where Hitler murdered 6 million Jewish people also

contributed to the civilian death toll of that war. During World War I, cities and towns

were left out for the most part. Battles were remotely fought away from towns so that

the terrifying new weapons of war could only be used against enemy soldiers. Because

of this, World War I, unlike World War II had many more military casualties than civilian.

One of the main reasons why both wars caused such pain and suffering for people was

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because new weapons and war strategies were being created and these new ideas

completely surprised victims and there was almost never a way to reduce death.

The twentieth century was a time of discovery. Technological breakthroughs

were extremely common during the times of both World Wars. World War I was the first

war to ever see the machine gun. Other deadly weapons such as poison gas and

flamethrowers seemed elementary for all combatants. The weapons of World War I

were clearly ahead of their time, however the tactics were not. The classic Civil War

tactic of charging the battlefield no longer worked. The machine gun would completely

obliterate running mobs. Poison gas in a wide area would drop the charging mob in

seconds and fire would burn anyone that came close. New tactics had to be introduced

in order to reduce deaths in the battlefield. The majority of deaths in World War I

happened at the beginning of the war because of the new weapons and outdated

tactics. Trench warfare was introduced in order to counter the machine gun and gas

masks became a common piece of equipment on the battlefield. World War II was also

a time of military progress. War on sea and in the air became an everyday occurrence,

everyone had the machine gun, and the old ways of charging the front seized to exist.

Like in World War I, new weapons emerged due to advancing technology. The world

saw the rise of the most powerful weapon that has ever existed, improved planes and

ocean ships were able to carry more ammunition and deal more damage than ever

before. Clearly the technological advances of both wars were one of the main causes

of the great number of deaths that occurred in both wars. The technology in both wars

is similar in that sense, but that is the only thing they have in common. The equipment

used in World War I was usually very unreliable. The newly created machine guns

would jam up daily and seize to work for awhile, flamethrower wielders were prime

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targets of their enemies, and the newly created trench warfare spread disease to

soldiers in the trenches. World War II equipment and tactics were much more reliable

and the same tactics are sometimes used today. The use of World War I equipment

could be seen as an experiment, all sides experimented with newly designed weapons.

World War II was the perfection of items from World War I and the birth of new weapons

that caused destruction on a massive scale.

World War I and World War II are very much alike, but are also very different.

Both wars involved a lot of death, suffering, and misery for every nation who

participated and the world saw the rise of new technology that changed the battlefield

forever. Both wars also made dramatic changes to the world. World War I showed the

United States as a world power, gave rise to the Soviet Union and the maps of Europe

were changed forever. World War II gave rise to totalitarian regimes such as Nazi

Germany and Fascist Italy and showed the world how cruel governments can be. The

main difference between these wars still stands however that while World War I was

fought for alliances and power, World War II was fought to destroy the evil governments

of Nazi Germany and its allies in a true good vs. evil conflict. This core difference raises

many differences between the wars. Leaders of both wars were very much different

because while they all wanted power, they all wanted it for different reasons. The

greater push for victory in World War II caused more chaos than ever before. Finally,

the modern technology mixed in with the idea of total war destroyed cities and killed

millions of people. In conclusion, World War I and World War II are the most destructive

conflicts the world has ever known, but both conflicts are separated despite their

common qualities.

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