OliDraft

The Early Twentieth Century was defined by two huge, global conflicts that forever altered the world we live in today and these resulting conflicts not only ended the once great European Empires, but gave rise to Communism and resulted in the Cold War. Due to their close proximity to each other, WWII started about 21 years after WWI ended, it is interesting to analyse how each nation approached it and how the allies concluded it. The main contrasts come in the form of the how the war was actually fought, the nature of the conflict and the ensuring peace deals. While the major similarities are the advancements made in technology and the shear cost of the wars in both economic and social terms. One of the other large aspects that these two wars differ on is the fact that unlike World War One the Second World War was a true ‘Total War,’ characterized by mass mobilisation of the populations and a global war with fighting in Asia, Africa, Europe, the Pacific and the Atlantic. Much like in World War One, World War Two saw a mass mobilisation of the female population and a large amount of propaganda to sway and persuade the population. In both wars Germany was viewed by many to be the aggressor. During both conflicts this fact was exploited by allied propaganda; firstly “Brave little Belgium” and “Poland – First to Fight.” Propaganda was used to great affect by the allies, especially Britain who instructed the British people to grow their own food or “dig for victory.” However that was not the only use that it served through the wars, for it also coaxed people into enlisting to join for various organizations key to the war effort, and more importantly the army. Just like the First World War, the women were mobilised to fill the void left by the men departing to join the war effort, this is clearly shown in Britain when many organizations from World War One, such as the Women’s Land army, were re-established. The same is true for the United States as their female population was mobilized too and gave rise to the famous poster entitled, “We Can Do It!” Unlike the First World War, the entire population was either mobilised or evacuated during the Second World War which also so the largest genocide in history. The men who were deemed too old or young to fight formed the Home Guard in Britain, the State Defence Force in the USA and the Volkssturm in German. Another huge contrast between the two World Wars was the Holocaust in which 6,000,000 Jews were killed by the Nazi Regime as they were viewed as ‘sub-human’ and not worthy of life. However, from 1914 to 1918 it is estimated that about 500,000 Armenians were killed by the Ottoman Empire, but this was not a systematic extermination like the Holocaust. Due to the technological advances in the field of radio, propaganda and speeches could be broadcast to almost every home during World War Two which meant that in countries such as Britain, moral was raised by speeches by Winston Churchill, such as the famous “We shall fight on the beaches” speech. The use of radio was commonplace amongst most nations involved in the war as Hitler himself would deliver speeches over the radio too. This particular use of propaganda was something he wanted to achieve, and was highlighted in Mein Kampf when he wrote, “…the correct use of propaganda is an art…” Propaganda was something Germany failed to do during World War One, this is why he devoted one chapter of his book emphasising its importance. The way Hitler put so much emphasises on propaganda showed that he had learnt the lessons of World War One, he had also adapted his military due to other lessons learnt from the First World War, making it an entirely different war compared to its predecessor. He did not want Germany to get bogged down in trench warfare and as a result the Nazi developed their strategy of Blitzkrieg, or ‘Lightening Warfare’ to quickly knock out their enemies. This worked very well as with the previous system in place during WWI, France survived the whole war, but with Blitzkrieg they were defeated in about one month. Another contrast were naval battles. During World War one, there was only one naval engagement between the Allies and the Central Powers, and that was the Battle of Jutland. This was because neither side wanted to risk having their navy destroyed and thereby sacrifice control of the seas to the other side. However in World War Two there were many large sea based battles in which battleships clashed such as the Battle of the Mediterranean and the War in the Pacific. This further highlights how WWII was more of a Total War then WWI. The usage of navies can be further contrasted by the fact that there we no seaborne invasions in the First World War while World War Two saw two of the largest in history, the D-Day landings and the Invasion of Sicily. World War Two raged all over the world, from Europe to North Africa and Asia while its predecessor was mainly fought in Europe. It was also the first war where civilian targets were regularly targeted as a way to not only destroy infrastructure, but to batter morale. Two example of such targeting are the Bombing of Dresden and the London Blitz. It was mainly the huge advances in technology that allowed this war to be so different to the First World War, for it was the development of the Tank that allowed the German Panzers to Blitzkrieg through much of Europe and the advances made in the aeroplane that transformed it from a tool used to aid reconnaissance to a weapon capable of bombing cities. Another large contrast was how each war was ended, for the Germans in World War One surrendered while they were still occupying foreign territory but their country had descended into revolution. While for World War Two, the Nazis just continued to retreat and refused to give in until their entire country was conquered, as for the Japanese, it too two atomic bombs to force them into surrender. Technological advances were present through out both World Wars as each side attempted to gain the edge over their enemy and there were still some aspects that remained the same. One such aspect was the convoy system, introduced first in 1917 to protect unarmed merchant vessels by grouping them together and protecting that group with warships. It was immediately introduced during the Second World War as a similar scenario had emerged, that being the German U-boats sinking the convoy ships in an attempt to strangle Britain, who imported a large amount of food. During both wars, both sides developed technology to help their war effort. This included the tank being developed by the British during WWI and the V1/2 rockets developed by Germany in WWII. Although Britain acted in a fairly similar way with regard to their economic policies, Germany and the Soviet Union, whom were unprepared for the First World War, reacted much differently second time round. Germany’s war plans resulted in a lack of preparation which was ultimately one of their downfalls and also the downfall of Russia. However both Stalin, leader of the USSR, and Hitler recognised the mistakes their countries made in the past and planned and prepared for WW2; Hitler had the 4 Year Plan while Stalin had the 5 Year Plan. It is also important to not that the reasoning behind why the USA gave money to Europe was different on both occasions. After the First World War the USA gave Germany loans, with the intention of receiving interest and ultimately make money. While the money given at the end of the Second World War was aid, in an attempt to stop Europe falling under the iron grip of Communism, so the first round it was economically motivated, while the second time was politically motivated. There were also many social reforms that followed each war, but with mixed success. Two examples being Lloyd George’s attempted social reforms, which included “Homes fit for heroes,” and Clement Attlee’s social reforms which included establish the Welfare System, NHS and introducing many other socialist policies. The key difference is the fact that Lloyd George was unable to fulfil on promises made, while Attlee and Labour were. The political landscape of Britain, Russia and Germany was drastically altered after each war. After World War One, the population of the Liberal Party was drastically reduced because the Party severed over the controversial introduction of conscription in 1916 on which Lloyd George and Asquith disagreed on. As a result, the political party, which won a massive landslide election victory in 1906 and was the dominant political force in Britain, slumped to third place in the election of 1918. As a result of the war, the Conservative Party, which won six out of eight of the interwar period elections, became the main party in Britain. However World War Two altered the political scene once more as it gave rise to the socialist Labour Party who have been fighting the Conservative Party for power ever since, while the once great Liberal Party has been condemned to third place. This suggests that each war had an effect on the ideologies of the people as they swung from centre, to right and then to left. Another similarity on the political front is the fact that Germany started each war as a dictatorship, and then became a democracy once it had been concluded, while for Russia, in each war it suffered several set backs whiles its army was pushed deep into its own territory by the attacking Germans and as a result it was forced to fight a defensive war for the opening phrase of each World War. Both World War One and Two saw the rise and fall of Great super powers, along with the establishment of international organisations and the redrawing of borders. Follow the first would war Russia had descended into civil war and chaos while the Germany Empire had disintegrated along with her allies Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire. Under the treaty of Versailles, St Germain and Serves these once powerful Empires effectively ceased to exist. The same is true for World War Two, because it has severely weakened France and Britain to the point that they were forced to withdraw from their colonies such as Britain from India in 1947 and France from Algeria in 1962, and no longer be global superpowers. The Second World War especially forced America to abandon its policy of isolationism and takes its place as the new global power along with the USSR. During both wars these empires managed to mobilise their colonies to aid in their war effort both economically, such as their resources, and military, in the form of soldiers. An example would be the fact that in the Middle East there were many Indian soldiers fighting for the British and the fact that the first soldiers to liberate Paris were African. Finally, these wars gave birth to international organizations. Although World War One gave to many new nations, the countries that re-emerged from World War Two were drastically different; the same applies of the UN and the peace deals. These democratic nations in Eastern Europe that were founded after the First World War and subsequently conquered by the Nazis were transformed into communist dictatorships and satellite states of the USSR, this includes Poland, whose independence Britain and France fought for. As for the UN, it was established on the wreckage of the League of Nations and its faults were amended. By reshaping the League of Nations it allowed it to be a much more efficient force at ensuring world peace, and more importantly the USA joined, something it didn’t do after WWI. Another lesson learnt was how to deal with the defeated nations. Previously the colonies of the defeated empires became ‘Mandates’ of the League and governed by another empire, mainly Britain and France, but the after World War Two the territories of Italy and Japan, became UN trustee territories and governed by the United Nations, not one single country. The fate of these territories was also decided over a period of 2-3 years, while after World War One it was a matter of months. A similar scenario occurred near the end of World War Two when allied leaders, Churchill, Stalin and Roosevelt/Truman began to discuss what to do with Europe after the war at the Potsdam and Yalta Conferences. This would therefore ensure that the decisions are not rushed as they were in World War One and that they were carefully planned out. As for Germany, it was kept as a single state under the treaty of Versailles; however after WWII it was divided in half. In conclusion, the main fundamental difference between the First World War and the Second World War was the fact that World War One was fought on the basis of imperialism with the aim of geographical gain, while World War Two was a war of ideology with the aim of ethnic cleansing. This is evident through the fact that on Christmas Day 1914 there was the famous Christmas Truce in which soldiers refused to fight each other showing that they felt they were all in a similar situation. However World War Two was characterized by the Holocaust, the Einsategruppes and brutality. The whole nature of the conflict was different, because WWI was fought in trenches and had limited movement, in four years the Germans could not reach Paris, but in WW2 they conquered France in one month. It is also important to note that the Second World War was more of a Total War than the First simply because there was fighting all across the globe and everyone was mobilised. Therefore it can be concluded that although they share many similarities in the way that certain nations reacted and how the world was reshaped after each war, but fundamentally, each nations learnt from their mistakes and therefore produced an entirely different type of warfare. An important question to ask would be whether World War Two was directly caused by the actions taken in World War One or whether it was caused by the actions after the war.