Total War in Relation to World War I and II
[IMAGE]First of all, what is “Total War”? What do we mean by it and
what answer do we expect from this question? Total War is the war that
affects all of society- not just armed forces, and that uses all the
resources available to be able to win it. It’s “the mobilization of
the whole society and its resources for the war effort.”
In most of the countries the first Total War was the First World War.
World War One started a completely new generation of wars. Before 1914
wars only affected the army and had no change on the lives of ordinary
people. At earlier times small professional armies fought the wars,
which means that all the men were especially trained for fighting.
Well, those two wars- World War One and World War Two were different.
Everyone fought them and everyone provided as much help as possible,
it didn’t matter whether the person was skilled or unskilled, old or
young, male or female. In this essay I will also investigate why were
World War One and World War Two called Total Wars. The first thing
that comes to mind is the scale of war. It was tremendous. I am going
to start from speaking about World War One and then later on about
World War Two.
[IMAGE]World War One was a completely new style of wars, the changes
were unbelievable, in fact the historians even see the World War One
as “the dividing line between modern and contemporary history”. The
war didn’t only change the style of fighting, but also the lifestyle
of people and their views on wars. It involved almost the entire
World, and not only the arguing countries were involved, but the
others as well. It involved “the entire population on large scale”. As
I mentioned previously, the scale of war was enormous. There were
about 70 million men fighting from 20 countries. In the beginning
there was no conscription, all the men were volunteers, and in fact
Britain in the Age of Total War 1. The caption at the top of this source is very helpful in determining the usefulness of this source, because it tells us that this source was written by the publisher of the book, "Waiting for the All Clear", on the inside cover. Usually, this part of the book is used for advertising and commercial purposes, and so is not very useful in finding out about the response of the British people to the effects of the Blitz. This is because it contains no historical fact and is totally comprised of opinion. It makes suggestions that cannot be proven, like "out of terror and tragedy came courage".
tragedy because of the life lost, it helped to better the United States to this day. One might
...rom the war unlike the countries who participated at the start. Many of the European countries lost a lot of power and started taking a passive attitude towards war, which weakened them to a great extent. A war so destructive costing millions of lives and billions of dollars. It brought forth many new technology of mass destruction and continued to contribute into new types of weapon development. New technology can be helpful and evil at the same time. Strategies and combat techniques were developed to maximize the potential of the weapons. These new ways of fighting only to come deadlier by the day. It deformed the land, tortured soldiers, and brought death along with it. A whole generation of young soldiers were lost and to never able to see the day of light ever again. The worst war ever to be told that left a historical moment and a permanent fear of future wars.
Sister Claire Evelyn Trestrail was the eldest of five being born on the 10th of December, 1877 in Clare, South Australia. Trestrail served in the First World War as a nurse following in her mother’s footsteps who was a trained nurse, Acting Matron of King Edward Hospital in Perth and also had involvement within the Red Cross and the Saint John’s Ambulance Services. Trestrail’s younger siblings also had involvement within the First World War with her two younger brothers; John Henry and Amarald Glen, serving in the royal Flying Corps and respectively, 1 Machine Battalion. Amarald was also presented with a Military Medal for Gallantry at Villaret. Sister Ella also served as a nurse, got married, but tragically returned as an amputee. It was only her youngest sister Amy who did not serve during the war.
World War Warfare was one of the greatest examples of technological advancement and strategic challenge, with the introduction of inventions such as the aircraft and the tank the battlefield transformed from attrition as scene in the early years of the war to decisive by the end of the war.
Before in the introduction, the essay introduced limited war and total war, and there is a difference between the two wars. Limited war is war with restriction such as weapon usage (not using nuclear weapons) and territories involved. A limited war follows the ‘Just War Theory’, while total war is solely meant on pure obliteration of opposing side.
for a second time in history. However, this war was to be a lot more
I would pick out one such incident from the 20th century which has had a great impact- if not the greatest on the world. According to me, The Cold war which lasted for nearly forty-three years was a significant event in the 20th century. Although no official war was declared during this period of time between the United States of America and the then-U.S.S.R., it was a crucial face-off between these two superpowers to expand their influence over the globe.
The United States is the Super Power in today’s world and two reasons for that are the outcome of World War II and how the President at the time, Franklin Delano Roosevelt handled conflicts at home as well as overseas. America was going through a very difficult time dealing with the Great Depression and the problem of Germany starting conflicts in Europe where nothing was being done about it. World War II was something America stayed out of for about three years, but when we finally did get involved the “scales” were now tipped in the favor of the Allies due to the American involvement. Also, as shown in World War I when the United States gets involved with conflicts dealing with issues overseas we are very successful and are adamant on becoming victorious. Much like the conflict America is dealing with today in Iraq, although many people do not agree with the war and the grounds for the war I think that our government is doing the right thing. People need to realize that our government would not do anything to hurt the nation or its people because that is just a reflection of the government and the people who run it. They want to be perceived as the super power of the world and would not do anything to hurt that image. Much like Roosevelt helped the United States to appear the Super Power, President Bush is also doing his part by continuing the war on terror and not ending it until he feels we have conquered the men behind the 9/11 attacks.
...ing the Great War and the lessons learned will forever affect economic, technological and psychological futures around the world.
In between 1912 and 1945, many major events occurred. World War one past, lasting four years starting in 1914 and finishing in 1918. Then World War two approached in 1939 then finished in 1945. The Titanic was a huge event as it was an enormous boat and was “unsinkable;” Until it sank on its maiden voyage from Southampton to New York in 1916. The Russian Revolution took place in 1917; The USSR revolution showed how ordinary people could revolt and take over a country. There was a general strike which came about in 1926, 3rd May to 13th May.
Antietam continues to be the day America lost more soldiers in a single day. It surpasses the combined losses of life during the American Revolution, The War of 1812, The Mexican-American War, and the Spanish-American War. Still this battle was a turning point for the Union during the Civil War, even though it was narrowly won by Union Forces. This day of death not only gave the Union Army a drop of confidence in a losing battle, it allowed for the freedom of slaves by President Lincoln.
The post war changes and differences between World War I and World War II are the Jazz era, the Lost Generation, technological advances, and the differences of wars. These changes and differences changed the world today especially in America and Europe.
World War II, known as the largest armed conflict in history, began in Europe in the 1930s and led to effect many people. The war resulted in not only the involvement of more countries than any other war but also introduced powerful, new, nuclear weapons that also contributed to the most deaths. As Hitler rose to power in 1933 the Holocaust began, his quest for the ‘perfect’ race resulted in the use of concentration camps, which would help to create the largest genocide of people in history.
World War 1 World War 1 was called “The Great War”, “The war to end all wars”, and “The first modern war”. It has many causes and a few repercussions and I will describe them in detail. The most widely known reason for the start of World War 1 was the assassination of the Arch Duke Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary in the Serbian capital of Sarajevo. The ArchDuke was there to talk to the Serbian leaders about peace on the Balkan Peninsula. After a Serbian was arrested for the assassination, Austria-Hungary pulled out of the peace talks and declared war on Serbia.