World War 1 and World War 2, Essay Example

The two world wars made significant impacts in the world, which are experienced in various regions and by various groups even today. One of the greatest similarities evident in the two wars is the parties involved in the wars. In both cases, the war was between two parties. While the Allies and the Central Powers were the parties in the First World War, the Axis and the Allies were the parties in the Second World War. The Allies of the First World War included Russia, France, United Kingdom, and Triple Entente. The Central Powers included Italy, Austria-Hungary, and Germany. However, Italy later withdrew from the war after Austria-Hungry took the offensive

World War I was triggered by the death of Austria-Hungary’s Archduke F. Ferdinand. He was the successor of the reigning ruler. The assassination was done by a Yugoslav nationalist. This was seen as war against Austria-Hungary. Therefore, the kingdom’s allies were gathered in readiness for retaliation. On the other hand, the Second World War was triggered by German’s invasion of Poland because it wanted to expand its empire. Subsequently, France and most of the commonwealth countries had declared war on Italy and Germany. Thus, the Second World War began. However, China and Japan were already at war prior to these incidences.

In both wars, the United States’ first attempt was to stay neutral to all parties. However, this attempt did not last long after the United States was pressured to take a stand by the other countries. In both wars, the United States ended up aiding the Allies. President Woodrow Wilson aided the WW1 while Franklin Roosevelt oversaw the second one. This occurred after the United States realized that the Germans were acting as the villains. The United States aided in military and weaponry resources, funds, healthcare and food, amongst other resources. In both cases, the country was on the winning party.

While the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings and the Holocaust are the most memorable war crimes in the Second World War, the genocides in Greek, Assyria and Armenia are the most memorable in the First World War. Armenian genocide occurred under ethnic cleansing. This was done by the Ottoman Empire because they perceived the Armenians as the enemy. The Russians were also involved in the death Jews, and Germans because they killed them in thousands. In the Second World War, the Holocaust involved the death of many Jews who were said to be in millions. These Jews were in concentration camps. The Atomic bombings of Nagasaki and Hiroshima killed more than 166, 000 people within the first four months. These bombings were done by the United States, the China republic and the United Kingdom, which had urged Japan to surrender from the Pacific War, a continuation of the Second World War, without any success. The aftermath of these bombings are still experienced even today.

While the first world War resulted to the change of larger entities (empires/countries) such as imperialistic foreign policies of Italy, French Republic, Ottoman, Austria-Hungarian, British, Russian, and the German Empires, the Second World War influenced individuals. For example, the women in the United States and other significant regions were significantly impacted towards working and fighting for their rights. During the warring period, they had taken up the factory jobs and other jobs to safeguard their families as the majority of the men were in the warring countries. When the war ended, they still wanted to work. This led to the women’s campaigns for their right to work and do other activities that were limited to the men.