Term Paper on "World War I And World War II"

Term Paper 4 pages (1169 words) Sources: 1+

[EXCERPT] . . . .

World War I and World War II

World War I was also known as the Great War and the War to End All Wars, a global military upheaval, which occurred from 1914 to 1918 (Wikipedia 2006). It claimed millions of lives and is said to have helped shape the modern world. It was fought between the Allied Powers and the Central Powers and won by the former. The Allied Powers, or Allies, were led by Britain, France, Russia, Italy and the United States. The Central Powers, on the other hand, were led by Germany, Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire. Much of it occurred on the Western Front within systems of opposing manned trenches and fortifications from the North Sea to the border of Switzerland. It caused the disintegration of the Austro-Hungarian, German, Ottoman and Russian empires. It ultimately created a decisive break with the old world order and important factors in the development of World War II roughly 20 years later (Wikipedia).

President Woodrow Wilson announced that break in the U.S.'s official relations with Germany on account of its policy of insisting on neutral rights and in mediating a compromise settlement (Wikipedia 2006). The President warned that the U.S. would not tolerate unrestricted submarine warfare, which he said violated America's dignity. Germany stopped for a while, but announced the following month that they would resume unrestricted submarine warfare. After the War came the signing of the Versailles Treaty, which required Germany to pay enormous reparations, which it borrowed from the U.S. until the suspension of the borrowings in 1931.As a whole, the experiences of this war developed into a collective national trauma for all the countries, which participated in it. These experiences completely wiped out the optimism of the 1900s and those who fought in that War came to be known as the Lost Generation because they never fully recovered from their experiences. The social trauma took many forms. One was a revolt by nationalism and what it supposedly caused and began doing towards a more internationalist world in support of organizations like the League of Nations. Another form was pacifism, which became popular. Still another was the view that only strength and military might could be relied upon for protection in this inhuman and chaotic world, which did not respect civilization. The defeated ones or losers developed their own psychological state, which rejected the lesson of the War. There was a pronounced sense of disillusionment and cynicism, specifically Nihilism, which became popular. This disillusionment toward humanity reached a cultural climax with the establishment of the Dadaist artistic movement. Many also believed that the War signaled the end of the world, including the collapse of capitalism and imperialism. It was observed that communist and socialist movements gathered strength from this theory and became popular (Wikipedia).

The most lasting effect of World War I in the U.S. is the systematization of society or the centralization of government power and regulation (West 1999). It combined with the Great Depression in rationalizing the concentrating power in Washington. The central government resists curtailment. The military may shrink fast when peace comes but civilian masters do not. After 1917, the federal government began exercising a more penetrating authority over the private sector. Another legacy of World War was the rise of liberal democracies as the prevailing governments all over the Continent. This development took 81 years to render much of the world safe for democracy but at a great cost. Byron Farwell said that the U.S. did not win… READ MORE

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