World Wars and Their Relationships the Relationship

World Wars and Their Relationships

The relationship between World War I and World War II is based on several factors. First, Germany actually helped start the first war and did start the second war. The assassination of Archduke Ferdinand of Austria by a Serbian national triggered the war. Germany was allied with Austria-Hungary, and then Italy. When the assassination occurred, several allied countries denounced Serbia and offered it ultimatums. Finally, Austria-Hungary demanded ten things that they knew Serbia could not accomplish, directly leading to the war. Austria-Hungary actually declared war when the demands were not met, and Germany declared war on Russia the next day, bringing the allies of Russia, such as France and Great Britain into the war. In the Second World War, Germany began taking over territory around the country, and they invaded Poland in 1939, which actually set off the war.

Another relationship to both wars is that the United States did not enter the war until they were well under way. The First World War began in July 1914, and the United States did not enter the war until April 1917. They entered because of a complicated German telegraph that tried to get Mexico to side with Germany and attack the United States. In the Second World War, the U.S. did not enter the war that began in 1939 with Germany's attack of Poland until 1941, when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. During both wars, the United States tried to work with the other countries to create a peace treaty, up until they actually entered the war themselves.

In both wars, technology was expanded and new technologies were developed to help fight the war. In World War I, airplanes were used in combat for the first time, the pilots developed new ways of aerial bombing, dog fighting, and reconnaissance that helped both sides fight more effectively. The Germans invented nerve gases that were dangerous weapons on the battlefield, and new types of submarines and battleships were developed. In World War II, technology had advanced tremendously. There were more planes and they were much faster, the ships were more modern, and submarines and other technologies had advanced, as well. In the Second World War, many new technologies were developed, like sonar, a new type of bombsight, and the atomic bomb, which brought an end to the war.

Both wars were fought on several continents, and used air, sea, and land-based troops for battle and support. Many of the same countries participated in both wars, both in Europe and beyond. For example, in World War I the Ottoman Empire in the Middle East participated in the war, and in World War II, the Germans fought in North Africa trying to gain more territory to add to their country.

In both wars, Germany was a deciding factor in the war. They had undergone a great military build-up during the turn of the 20th century that prepared them for war. After the war, one of the treaties demanded that Germany not be allowed to rebuild its military to its pre-war levels, but Hitler began to ignore that and build up the military in secret, which helped to prepare the country for World War II. Therefore, Germany's military power helped connect both wars and helped create the background for both wars to occur.