Causes of World War One v.s. World War Two

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Question: In what ways did the causes of the Second World War differ from the First World War? The causes of World War One are extensively different from the ones of World War Two. Although, both wars were catastrophic, the causes of the first war were about the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and the July Crisis, and alliances between the European nations. While, the Second World War’s cause was Germany’s expansionist aims and Hitler’s book, Mein Kampf, the failure of Collective security along with the failure of the League of Nations, and also one major cause would be appeasement. In WW1, the terrorist attack of a Serbian nationalist caused the ignition of flames that were set across Europe. The Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary led to the July Crisis. A crisis in which, Austria sent an Ultimatum to Serbia, with requirement to be followed. Serbia accepted most but not all of Austria’s demands. Serbia’s decline of the Ultimatum led to Austria-Hungary declaring war on the Serbs. Another key event in the July Crisis was Austria-Hungary sending a “blank cheque” to Germany. This cheque meant to ask if Germany would help Austria-Hungary if they went to war. Germany agreed to the “blank cheque”. As Austria-Hungary went to war against Serbia; Serbia had alliances with France, Russia, Italy, and the Ottoman Empire to join the war on their side. Germany knowing that Russia was mobilizing its army, Kaiser Wilhelm II, sent a letter to Russia’s leader. Tsar Nicholas II ignored the letter and kept on mobilizing its army. Therefore, Germany put forth the Schlieffen plan, written in 1904 by Alfred von Schlieffen. This plan’s principle was getting German troops through Belgium and then the troops into France.... ... middle of paper ... ...was an immediate cause of the assassination of the Archduke of Austria-Hungary let to how it was dealt with, July Crisis, in WW1. While, WW2 was caused by Germany’s government wanting to expand with their expansionist aims, and living territory for German people. Alliances in WW1 were the cause of the war because of Otto von Bismarck was getting everybody together and France isolated preventing a two-front war for Germany. On the other hand, WW2 was caused by the failure of the League of Nations and Collective Security. Back to WW1, it was also caused by imperialism and nationalism, while WW2 had appeasement of letting Germany what it wanted just to prevent another war from breaking out. In conclusion, from the points discussed and analyzed above we can conclude that both World War One and World War Two have several different causes totally unrelated to one another.

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