he War to End All Peace
There was once a conflict so great, that the people of the world thought that there could be no conflict greater; a war so massive that we could never fight another one like it: “the war to end all wars,” World War I. We know now, that this would not be the last global conflict, we have already had a World War II, and the third could be on our beaches any day. This raises the question, why was this never truly “the war to end all wars?” The inevitability of World War II was obvious even then, when looking at the treaties and technological state of war, even if no one wanted to think about the oncoming storm speeding towards an already war fatigued world.
BACKGROUND
The world before The Great War has been called a “powder keg” by historians for good reason. Tension and power was building at a rapid pace, and there was very little to slow the world down. All it took was one spark to set the whole world into motion. The Archduke of Austria, Franz Ferdinand, was assassinated by an organization known as “The Black Hand,” which was a terrorist group run by Serbian Army officers, …show more content…
The stress and shame that was put upon the german people was the reason that fascism was able to spread so readily. The Treaty of Versailles had Germany pay $33,000,000,000 in reparations, lost major chunks of territory, and had their army, navy, and airforce restricted severely. This made the german people feel weak, allowing for support for a strong military leader to grow, as well as making them more accepting of an aggressive leader. The germans wanted someone to blame after the war as well, allowing focused hate, in this case anti-semitism. These aspects combined with the now worthless dollar, caused by the war debts, allowed for a rapid and passionate change in government, starting the rise of the Third Reich. One treaty would only do so much to delay the destruction of
There was once a conflict so great, that the people of the world thought that there could be no conflict greater; a war so massive that we could never fight another one like it: “the war to end all wars,” World War I. We know now, that this would not be the last global conflict, we have already had a World War II, and the third could be on our beaches any day. This raises the question, why was this never truly “the war to end all wars?” The inevitability of World War II was obvious even then, when looking at the treaties and technological state of war, even if no one wanted to think about the oncoming storm speeding towards an already war fatigued world.
BACKGROUND
The world before The Great War has been called a “powder keg” by historians for good reason. Tension and power was building at a rapid pace, and there was very little to slow the world down. All it took was one spark to set the whole world into motion. The Archduke of Austria, Franz Ferdinand, was assassinated by an organization known as “The Black Hand,” which was a terrorist group run by Serbian Army officers, …show more content…
The stress and shame that was put upon the german people was the reason that fascism was able to spread so readily. The Treaty of Versailles had Germany pay $33,000,000,000 in reparations, lost major chunks of territory, and had their army, navy, and airforce restricted severely. This made the german people feel weak, allowing for support for a strong military leader to grow, as well as making them more accepting of an aggressive leader. The germans wanted someone to blame after the war as well, allowing focused hate, in this case anti-semitism. These aspects combined with the now worthless dollar, caused by the war debts, allowed for a rapid and passionate change in government, starting the rise of the Third Reich. One treaty would only do so much to delay the destruction of