Dylan Stephenson

Professor Colvin

SLA 201 04

April 21st, 2018

Connections Between World Wars

Throughout the course of history, each individual event has some sort of impact on the

future. With that being said, World War I had altered much more than just the world in 1914.

The effects of World War I can be attributed to changes in daily life even now 100 years later.

The focus of this paper will be to exploit the many impacts that the World Wars had on

international relations as well as economic and social changes. It was also go into detail on how

each of the World Wars had connected to the wars that succeeded them.

World War I was a brutal war, but said to be the end of all wars. This was not the case

considering the next World War occurred around 20 years later. The two wars actually have a

clear connection, from the end of one, to the start of the other. Before the connection can be

explained, what exactly happened within World War I?

Well, the war was started by a variety of disputed reasons. The main reasoning of how

World War I and II are connected reside within the country of Germany. When the war broke

out, Germany was a country that was not necessarily in great condition in 1914. They had felt as

if they were not respected by the French, British, and Russians. When there allies, Austria-

Hungary had declared war on Serbia, the Germans saw this as a chance to prove to the other

countries there power. They quickly became offensive and devised a plan to attack both the

French by invading, as well as the Russians. There aggression and plan had eventually came

back to hurt them. They were unsuccessful and came out the losers of the war. When Germany
had lost the war, they were hurt but not revengeful. When the treaty of versailles was signed to

end the war and Germany was punished, they were infuriated.

The French’s hatred for the Germans had not ended when the Germans had to accept

defeat. The French wanted more from the Germans, and they got it. At the Paris Peace

conference, the Germans had to first admit they were the cause of the war. After taking credit for

starting the war they were demanded to give back all territory gained during the war. On top of

this, was the large sum of reparations they had to pay back to France and Great Britain. The final

blow was the punishments on the German military. The military was decreased to a very small

amount, and much of the war technology had been stripped from them.

The following years in Germany were ugly. The country was filled with anger from how

harshly they were punished. The economy was in turmoil, hyperinflation had people burning

money in the streets to stay warm. The German suffering carried on for a number of years. The

eventual end of the German suffering was thanks to a man named Adolf Hitler. This relatively

young leader had appealed to much of the German society, by uniting them through the

suffering. The country in the next coming years became one, and through the usage of

propaganda and controlled censorship, the Nazi party had raised an army who seeked out

revenge on the same countries who made them suffer for years. Thus, World War II had now

begun.

Now skipping ahead to the end of World War II, Germany was about to feel the same

results of the first World War. When the War was finally coming to a close in Europe 1944, the

Germans had once again been on the losing side. The country of Germany no longer governed

itself, and was decided to be split between the United States, France, Great Britain, and Russia.
 This is a direct cause of the next major war. The Next war was called the Cold War, and

consisted of mostly the Soviet Union and the United States. The main issue that provokes the

war is the split of East and West Germany. The two sides may have been on the same side when

fighting Germany, but opposed each other when it came to governing styles. The country of

Russia was Communist and planned to prove to the rest of the world that they were the most

dominate. Many experts feel that a main cause of the Cold War may have been the dropping of

the atomic bombs on Japan. This threatened the Soviets and did not display them as the most

dominant power in the world. Tensions grew quickly after the war and the two sides of Germany

were divided by much more than a wall. The Soviet Union or USSR had quickly become a threat

to the world. In response, the USSR was supposed to be contained, by continued to expand and

influence other countries. There was no direct fighting between the two, but rather indirect

competitions, such as the arms race. The two sides prepared for war for almost 50 years but

never fought. Eventually the USSR fell due to economic struggles and ended the war.

The issues that resulted of the cold war had not concluded when the USSR fell. It still

contributes as a very tense situation between the country of Russia and the rest of Europe. This is

a direct result of the past wars conflict. The differning governing styles are still an issue to the

relations. The wars also hurt relations economically and politically to many Asian countries that

were colonized in the past. Many European powers have lost the countries they colonized in the

past, and now compete rather than work on the same side. This clearly hurts the economy in

Europe. The past harsh times of Europe had also created very bad economic situations. This

continues on as distrust in governments in Europe today. This creates foreign investments and

money moving out of Europe, slowing the economy.

 Since the main wars had not been fought on US soil, it saved many people the hard times

that Europeans had to face. In Europe, bordering countries may have just invaded and killed

thousands of fellow citizens, creating high tensions. When there is no way to stop this, it

weakens the strength of the European countries. In the US, this is much harder to do considering

it does not have a bunch of bordering countries of potential enemies. Although Russian and US

relations are not great, it is not as threatening as it is for European countries. With a ton of

economic power coming out of europe, it gives the US a lot of space to grow and prosper

economically. The US also benefits from the fact that many European countries no longer have

various colonies. This opens up trade and lowers market prices for the US, helping economic

strength.

Just as the past wars had stemmed from one another, todays regular day conflicts had

been impacted by heavily by the major wars. The wars had led to one another, involving all

world countries in some way. These major issues resulting of the World Wars have decreased the

overall power of the continent of Europe. This has transferred some power from European

countries to the United States. Although the US is not outstandingly more powerful than

European countries, they do now have new advantages and strengths over them.
 What are the major challenges that face European countries today and how has war,

economic hardship and decolonization led to a decrease in Europe’s overall power in position

relative to the United States? Be very specific.