Essays

World War One - Part Two (AKA WWII)

Was World War Two just a continuation of the first world war? Both times, as one may have noticed, Germany seems to be a prominent player in the wars, working hard to make things difficult for other countries. Now, between the two wars there are some similarities and some differences that can cause people to feel like the wars were separate events entirely, but World War One doubtlessly had a large effect on the world, and in the long run helped to start World War Two, and thus it would seem that World War Two really is just a continuation of World War One.

At the end of the first world war, when everyone signed the Treaty of Versailles, Germany was forced to pay the Allied powers a good sum of money in reparations. While the rest of the world had to recuperate economically, as well as emotionally, from the war, Germany's economy ended up being absolutely terrible, because of all the money they had to pay to the winning side. Because of this, Germany was, possibly rightfully, bitter towards the other countries, making it easier for them to end up deciding to wage another war, but not just yet. First, Hitler of course had to go and rise to power, promising to fix the economy and put Germany on top, and who wouldn't want that? So of course they followed his lead, giving him power, while he had ulterior motives that he had hidden from others.

Hitler, as well as nearly everyone who was on the side of the Axis Power, felt cheated after the first world war, and wanted to wage a new war to get revenge because they thought they could win this time. The same went for Japan, who also felt that they had been cheated in World War One and decided to get even. A lot of resentment and hate was built up in the years between the two wars, and when Germany violated the Treaty of Versailles by starting an attack, the world went into mayhem and everyone sort of decided that that was the time to fight. Japan dropped the bomb on Pear Harbor and that's when World War Two officially started.

There is no doubt that World War One was a big contributor to the start of World War Two. It also seems like the second world war was a continuation of the first, given the way World War One ended. It seems that there were too many loose ends after the first world war, and to much left unsettled, so World War Two was the ending of World War One. 

- 14 October, 2016