From Ibstudy

In this section it is advisable to study the causes, practices and effects of a variety of wars from at least two Regions, World Wars included.

Some wars explained on other pages, but which can still be used for this section, are: the Vietnam War, the Korean War, and the Chinese Civil War.

Contents 1 Causes of War 1.1 Leadup to WWI 2 Practices of War 2.1 WWI 2.2 WWII 3 Effects of War 3.1 WWI 3.2 WWII

Causes of War

Leadup to WWI

• arms races
  • Naval Race between Britain and Germany
    • Britain builds the first Dreadnought-class battleship (battleship with all big guns: revolutionary) in 1906
• Alliances for nonagression and mutual defence:
  • Triple Alliance: Germany, Austria-Hungary, Italy
  • Triple Entente: England, France, Russia . Germany viewed this as a "plot to encircle" them.
• Russia has called itself "protector of the Southern Slavs" -- needed access to the Mediterranean
  • the Balkans are a 'powder keg'.
• Germany: militarism and nationalism in the German Confederation since 1814
  • Bismarck: unites Germany, increases army. He enacts the biggest peacetime military increase in history: 30%

• June 28 1914: assassination of Archduke Ferdinand in Sarajevo.
  • "spark in the powder keg" of the Balkans.
• Francis Joseph I of Austria-Hungary asks Kaiser Willhelm II of Germany for support in case of war with Serbia
  • support granted: Francis Joseph sends an unacceptable ultimatum sent to Serbia, war begins
  • why did Kaiser Willhelm II grant support? some historians say he underestimated Russia's dedication to the Balkans (and thought that Russia might not retaliate -> no world war), others thought he believed war was inevitable.
• German generals agreed that the threat from the Entente made war inevitable: war 'the sooner the better'

Practices of War

WWI

• Mostly deadlocked trench warfare
• Rudimentary tanks
• air power (early dogfighting in the air; Germans had dirigibles)
• Mustard gas used with mixed results (see poem "Dulce Et Decorum Est"
  • effective against ground troops, however, if the wind blew the wrong direction, the people releasing the gas could be maimed or killed - the fate intended for their target.

WWII

• Blitzkrieg('lightning war') used by Hitler, especially to invade Poland.
  • A combination of tanks, air power, artillery and infantry to overwhelm the enemy
• Total War
  • Civilians targeted, especially with bombing
• Carpet-bombing and firebombing (with napalm)
  • HUGE portions of Japanese cities were burned (more info)
• Better tanks could effectively overcome the deadlock of trench warfare
• Atomic bomb

Effects of War

In many cases, the causes and course of war can be integrated into a discussion of its effects. These are some of the main effects that don't fit into other categories.

WWI

• Versailles Treaty: Germany has:
  • Limited armed forces
  • Lost territory
  • Weimar Republic in power

WWII

• Stage is set for the Cold War:
  • Power vacuum in Eastern Europe