world wars

History

2022

We explain what the two world wars were, what their causes and consequences were. In addition, films that narrate them.

The world wars were the bloodiest in history.

What were the world wars?

The world wars were the military conflicts that involved almost all of the great international powers of that time, many of them belonging to different continents. It was the wars bloodiest, most destructive and harmful that the humanity. There have been two of them, so far.

On the other hand, they have not been the longest wars of the history, far from it, but the ones that have had the highest cost in lives, especially if their brevity is taken into account. The latter is largely due to the involvement of populations civilians in the conflict, which was not usual in traditional warfare.

The technological and industrial mechanisms put at the full service of the war were also the cause of rapid destruction. Thus, air, sea and land elements were involved.

As we said, there have been two world wars recognized as such:

  • The first World War (1914-1918). Referred for many years as the "Great War", it was led by two opposing sides that brought together all the European colonial powers of the time. On one side was the Triple Entente: Great Britain, France, and Tsarist Russia. On the other hand, the Central Powers of the Triple Alliance were grouped: Germany, Italy and the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Each side was also joined by their respective allies, dragging Greece, Belgium, Serbia, Montenegro, the United States, Romania, Japan and Portugal into the conflict (on the side of the Entente); and the Ottoman Empire, Bulgaria, Azerbaijan, Sultanate of Darfur, Dervish State and Emirate of Jammal Shammar (on the side of the Alliance). The conflict culminated in the defeat of the Central Powers and the signing of the Treaty of Versailles.
  • The Second World War (1939-1945). Perhaps the most famous warlike conflict of contemporaneity, not only because of its destructive nature, which devastated the whole of Europe, but also because of the methods extremes to which its fighters resorted, including massive and incendiary bombing, or the use of atomic bombs. In addition, the application of the slavery by the forces of German Nazism, in the notorious concentration and extermination camps. The opposing sides on this occasion were the Allied Countries: France, England, the United States and the USSR, along with their supporters: the Republic of China, Poland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, the British Raj, the Kingdom of Nepal. , Denmark, Norway, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Greece, Yugoslavia and a long etcetera; versus the Axis Powers: Germany, Japan and Italy, along with their supporters and partners: Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Finland, Thailand, Iran, Iraq, and the non-belligerent support of Croatia, Slovakia, Serbia, Albania, Montenegro, Republic Czech, Spain, Luxembourg and Yugoslavia.

Causes of the First World War

The death of Francisco de Austria triggered the war, although his assassin was captured.

The causes of world wars are never simple or concrete, but are constituted over many years, during which they accumulate critical mass until an event, the straw that breaks the camel's back, triggers the violence.

In the case of First World War, the causes are due to the tensions resulting from the colonial distribution of Africa Y Asia among the European powers of the moment. Added to this were the economic tensions implied by competition for industrial dominance in the early century.

The event that triggered the violence was, in 1914, the assassination of the heir to the throne of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Duke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, in Sarajevo.

Causes of World War II

Instead, the roots of the WWII They are precisely at the end of the First World War and the oppressive conditions in which the defeated had to sign the peace, as stipulated in the Treaty of Versailles. This, added to the Great Depression of 1929, plunged them into the poverty and unpayable debts.

Thus was created the perfect breeding ground for a new political faction to rise in Europe: the fascism. Born in Italy with Benito Mussolini, he soon germinated in Germany with Adolf Hitler, and sparked a revival of the nationalism extreme, inspired by a logic racist and in social Darwinism.

It was, then, a matter of weather that war broke out in Europe. The event that triggered it was the invasion of Poland by Germany in 1939, after having peacefully annexed Austria and Czechoslovakia.

Consequences of the world wars

After each of the world wars, Europe was left in ruins.

The consequences of this type of conflict, as will be assumed, are devastating. On two occasions Europe has been left in ruins, especially in the Second World War, and the loss of human life has been impressive: 16 million people died in the First World War and between 55 and 60 million in the Second.

In addition, in both cases there was a violent reconfiguration of the political and economic powers of the world, taking away their colonies or promoting the fall or dissolution of regimes such as the Russian Empire (in the October Revolution of 1918), the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Czechoslovakia, or their restructuring (such as the division of Germany into two countries).

Sadly, many of the technologies that we employ on a daily basis today have their direct or indirect origin in these two devastating conflicts, such as the atomic Energy, jet propulsion, computers, etc.

How did the Second World War end?

World War II ended with the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

The Second World War lasted for six years of conflict until the Allied invasion of France in 1944 (the famous Normandy landing), a gesture that marked the beginning of the end of German domination of Europe.

Catastrophic events had already occurred for the Axis powers, such as the defeat of the Germans in territory Soviet and the fall of Benito Mussolini in Italy. The latter had forced the Germans to invade the former nation ally and restore order.

The launch of the Soviet offensive in the winter of 1944 was the other pincer strike against Hitler's Germany, which progressively lost ground on all fronts. This caused uprisings against the German III Reich in many occupied nations, while the alliance between China and the United States did the same with Japan on the Pacific front.

The German resistance delayed the arrival of the Soviets in Berlin until early the following year. Faced with this definitive outlook for the Nazis, Hitler committed suicide in his bunker on April 30, 1945, leaving his nation in ruins and adrift.

However, the German and Italian surrender did not mean the end of the conflict, since Japan remained facing the Allied Countries. The fighting in the Pacific was particularly bloody and American troops were already suffering the ravages of the campaign on the Western front.

So, taking advantage of the technology inherited from the crazed German initiatives, the government The United States decided to bomb the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945, two days apart, using atomic bombs.

After the instantaneous death of 166,000 people in the first town and 80,000 in the second, the Japanese government announced its unconditional surrender on August 15, thus ending World War II.

Movies about world wars

"Lawrence of Arabia" narrates events of the Arab revolt, during the First World War.

Films about the First World War:

  • Weapons on your shoulder!
  • The price of glory
  • The angels of hell
  • No news at the front
  • The great illusion
  • The queen of africa
  • Paths of Glory
  • Doctor Zhivago
  • Lawrence of Arabia
  • Eternal love
  • The Red Baron

Films about World War II:

  • The great Dictator
  • White House
  • The Bridge on the River Kwai
  • Twelve from the gallows
  • Patton
  • The Sun's empire
  • Schindler's List
  • The thin red line
  • Life is Beautiful
  • Saving Private Ryan
  • Pearl harbor
  • The pianist
  • The fall
  • The enigma code
  • To a man
  • Dunkirk
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