WWI & II: Tragedy, Lessons, & Consequences - Essay Sample

Introduction

World War I and II explained to have been the wars that led to various consequences in the world. It is so sad how the events changed after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in 1914 (Totani, 2020). The war began in 1914 to 1918. On the other hand, world war II was caused by the instability that was created by World War I. World War II broke out twenty years after World War I (Vandenbrouckes & Knowles, 2016). It explains the lessons that can be drawn from both world war I and world war II.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

After the killing of Archduke Ferdinand, some disagreements resulted in war. In the period of conflict, different countries fought against other countries. For instance, countries such as Bulgaria, Germany, Austria-Hungary fought against countries such as Russia, Romania, and France, among others (Totani, 2020). The war came with unprecedented levels of carnage and destruction. However, the war only lasted for four years but estimated that over 16 million people died, including soldiers and other civilians.

Due to the instability after the first world war, the second world war emerged. The war began exactly two decades after the first world war (Herberg-Rothe, 2017). The second war was more devastating than the first world war. The battle influenced by Germany that was economically and politically unstable. The second world war developed from the issues that were left unsolved after the first world war (Lebow, 2018). To be more specific on the cause of the second world war was Germany due to harsh rules that were imposed by the Versailles Treaty. Hitler and His Party, Nazi rose to power and fueled the war (Vandenbroucke & Knowle, 2016).

However, after the two wars, the past has been an occasion to be reflected in terms of costs. It also is indicated by magnitude and legacy. For instance, the Great War, world war I, led to the fall of Rome, and it was one of the most lethal in history (Totani, 2020). Many individuals have failed to reflect on these two wars and change their attitude or rather be competent in whatever they do. The impact of the two wars is still harsh and stunning; it will continue to ring in the minutes of the historians. Therefore, various lessons can be drawn from the two wars to explain some other factors in the world. Some of the lessons drawn include: war is not avoidable no matter how things may seem significant, lack of Peace leads to conflict, Peace can only come from human beings, and there is no proper plan for war, and we should not mess with some ordinary things.

It Is Hard to Avoid War No Matter How Great You Seem

It is stunning how some of the countries were strong before the first world war began. For instance, the culture of Germany, Britain, and Austria-Hungry was very combating before the war started. These were the great countries that were civilized on the earth, and they were to offer advanced technology, Scientific knowledge, and a good culture (Barro, Ursua & Weng, 2020). They were responsible for an excellent contemporary work of literature, music, architecture, and also science, machinery, and other medical equipment together with the best medicine (Cordesman & Wagner, 2020).

These countries were wealthy and stable, and they had high power (Herberg-Rothe, 2017). There was Peace among various nations, and they had a deep tie with one another, and the leaders in different countries could communicate and come up with some crucial decisions. The leaders ensured that people bound with cultural, economic, social, and even political factors. These countries had now begun to enter an era of globalization, booming technology, an increase in immigration and cooperation among them, the first world war began (Barro, Ursua & Weng, 2020).

Therefore, the war set back the countries from being significant to losing almost all the best and essential things. The countries had experienced a long period of Peace, and they had begun to adjust and extend the same to other countries that were not much civilized. It is because the countries had not experienced war after defeating Napoleon at Waterloo in 1815 (Cordesman & Wagner, 2020). The outbreak of the war in 1914 meant that the countries had to experience economic, cultural, and social setbacks.

The resources that the countries had, such as a long run of Peace, advanced technology, and an interrelationship between the various country leaders, did not matter in any way (Vandenbroucke & Knowles, 2016). All that was good at that time, especially a long run of Peace, devolved into a war that destroys various resources in the country. However, the war advanced from countries that were more advanced hence leading to all that was created into good to turn to bad (Cordesman & Wagner, 2020).

Stupid Is as Stupid Does

Many nations were not to go for the war since they were civilized. According to Lebow (2018), having many reasons to believe that something would make no sense would be incredible, hence it may be impossible, but something terrible just happens. The war meant that no country was gaining anything, and all of them were losing, but they persisted with the law as much destruction and deaths were evident. The countries were fighting, and in the long run, no country was gaining, but instead, they were destroying their economy (Vandenbroucke & Knowles, 2016).

Blood stalemates became the norm of the war for many years. The countries had leaders that encouraged the war and did not see the positive side of stopping the war. However, the principal leaders who were involved in the war did not remain in power after the war (Cordesman & Wagner, 2020). Some of the countries, such as Britain and France, were weakened so much. It is to the extent that they were unable to participate in the second world war as in the first world war. The decisions that the leaders made before and during the war was awful. It is important to note that when one has given various options, the belligerents chooses a horrible option even when the better options were there (Barro, Ursua & Weng, 2020). In the outbreak of the wars, stupidity and insanity caused many to countries to suffer, and hence such incidences caused by bad decision making should be avoided.

A Bad Peace Is the Same as More War

According to Totani (2020), miserable Peace is the same as having a war as the best definition. A bad peace not only imply misery in a country but also, it leads to conflicts in various aspects of the country (Herberg-Rothe, 2017). For instance, bad Peace means that a country imposes different harsh rules that affect countries or other people. The misery that people go through is severe, as when they are in the war.

Countries having violent conflicts is the same as experiencing various wars (Vandenbrouck & Knowles, 2016). After the first world war, violent conflict continued and continued for some years, such as the deadly Russian Civil War that led to the death of over one million individuals. Bad Peace not only makes a country go through messy conditions, but it also sets the right stage for other types of wars (Barro, Ursua & Weng, 2020). It was evident in some of the battles that took place in Balkans and the other between Azerbaijan and Armenia. However, various conflicts still exist in different forms and traced to be caused by the first and the second world war that took place some time back (Vandenbroucke & Knowles, 2016). It is essential to learn that when a country has terrible leadership, there is no way the country will have a sense of Peace since there will be many conflicts from various sectors.

The Decision to Have Peace and War Is Up to Us, And We Are the Only Ones Who Own the Results

Cordesman and Wagner (2020) explain that World War I was a tragic and unnecessary conflict between the countries. Some of the disputes do not have a point, and they are meaningless and hence led to the loss of life that is innocent. The first world war caused many of the deaths that were in vain, and we cannot even trace the significant cause of the deaths. The many causalities in the war were unnecessary, and it was by the wrong decisions by the leaders.

The strategic decisions that were made by various leaders were stupid, and there is no plan for war or decisions, and this can easily lead to global conflict-however, the second world war caused by a different ideology. The first world war is said to be caused by a lack of thinking and caused by competition among the various empires who were very exploitative to their subjects. Many of the people that were involved in the war could not explain why they were fighting. The leaders were using their subjects in the wrong way.

It is therefore explained and anticipated that to have Peace, it begins with a person and not depending on the leaders since some of them may be misleading. As an individual, it is vital to come up with the best way possible to avoid making decisions and understand that a plan or a strategy to make decisions does not exist.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the first and second world wars are examples where an individual - leaders of these generations - can draw an example of how to make decisions, avoid unnecessary conflicts and encourage Peace in the country. The leaders should not misuse the resources or badly use their subjects. Also, the state loses everything starting from a valuable resource to innocent citizens. Therefore, they should learn a lesson about what happened to Germany and France, among other countries.

References

Barro, R. J., Ursua, J. F., & Weng, J. (2020). The Coronavirus and the Great Influenza Epidemic-Lessons from the 'Spanish Flu' for the Coronaviruses' potential effects on mortality and economic activity. CESifo Working Paper. https://ssrn.com/abstract=3556305

Cordesman, A. H., & Wagner, A. (2020). The Lessons of Modern War: Volume I: The Arab-Israeli Conflicts, 1973-1989. Routledge.

Herberg-Rothe, A. (2017). Lessons for World War I for the Rise of Asia and Their Civilizations. Int' l Stud. J., 14(2), 125.

Lebow, R. N. (2018). Lessons of World War I. In Avoiding War, Making Peace. Palgrave Macmillan, 95-127. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-56093-9_4

Totani, Y. (2020). The Tokyo war crimes trial: the pursuit of justice in the wake of World War II. Brill. https://doi.org/10.1163/9781684174737

Vandenbroucke, G., & Knowles, J. (2016). Fertility Shocks and Equilibrium Marriage-Rate Dynamics: Lessons from World War 1 in France. In 2016 Meeting Papers (No. 561). Society for Economic Dynamics.