World Wars: Causes, Consequences, and Global Impact

Posted on Nov 23, 2024 in History

ITEM 9: The First World War: Origins and Outcomes

Causes of the Great War

In the early twentieth century, growing rivalry among European powers fueled tensions:

  • Between France and Germany over the 1870 war (Alsace-Lorraine).
  • Between Austria-Hungary and Russia regarding the Balkans.
  • Between Britain and Germany due to strong economic and commercial rivalry.
  • Among industrial powers, increasing competition for raw materials, markets, and colonial territories.

Additionally, serious national problems existed:

  • In the Austro-Hungarian Empire (Czechs, Slovaks, Serbs in Bosnia…).
  • In Russia (Poles, Finns, Baltic peoples, peoples of the Caucasus and Central Asia…).
  • In Britain (Irish).

These tensions led to alliances between powers, forming two opposing blocs:

  • The Triple Alliance (Central Powers): Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy.
  • The Triple Entente: Britain, France, and Russia.

Between 1900 and 1914, a military build-up, an arms race known as the “armed peace,” occurred. Serbian nationalism in the Balkans, supported by Russia, became the immediate trigger of the war, specifically the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand (heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne) and his wife by Gavrilo Princip, a pro-Serbian nationalist, on June 28, 1914.

Consequences

  • The concept of “total war” emerged, where the entire economy of belligerent countries focused on supporting the war effort.
  • Unprecedented figures: 60 million mobilized, 8 million dead, 16 nations involved.
  • An armistice was formalized in the Treaty of Versailles (and other treaties: St. Germain, Trianon, Neuilly, and Sèvres), signed between winners and losers, redrawing the map of Europe:
    • Disappearance of the Austro-Hungarian, Ottoman, and Russian Empires.
    • Emergence of new independent states: Poland, Czechoslovakia, the Baltic states, Finland, Yugoslavia (from Serbia).
  • Germany, severely punished in the Treaty of Versailles, lost territories (Alsace-Lorraine to France, Eupen and Malmedy to Belgium, colonies to France and Britain, eastern territories to Poland) and became a republic (the Weimar Republic) after a revolution. Germany was deemed responsible for the war and had to pay substantial financial reparations, crippling its economy. This humiliation fueled a strong desire for revenge.
  • Creation of the League of Nations (SdN).


ITEM 11: World War II: Causes and Consequences

Causes

  • a) Treaty of Versailles (1918-1919): Unfair terms, lack of reconciliation, humiliation, and resentment.
  • b) The economic crisis, “Great Depression”: National instability.
  • c) The rise of fascism: Expansionist policies and use of force.
  • d) Nazi initiative exploiting the weakness of democracies (appeasement): German policy of “fait accompli”:
    • 1935: Compulsory military service, annexation of the Saarland.
    • 1936: Remilitarization of the Rhineland, creation of the Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Axis (Anti-Comintern Pact), intervention in the Spanish Civil War.
    • 1938: March, “Anschluss”; September, Munich Conference and annexation of the Sudetenland; October, annexation of Czech territories.
    • 1939: March 16, annexation of Bohemia and Moravia; Czechoslovakia ceases to exist. March 23, annexation of Memel (Lithuania). April, Italy occupies Albania; German demands for Danzig in Poland. August, German-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact (secret). September 1, German invasion of Poland, start of World War II.

Consequences of War

3.1) Demographic Impact

50 million deaths (half Soviet), 35 million wounded, and 3 million missing. Half of the victims were civilians (bombing, retaliation, hunger, extermination…).

3.2) Economic Impact

Devastation in combat zones, especially in Eastern Europe and Japan. Strong economic growth in neutral countries and the U.S. State interventionism in reconstruction efforts.

3.3) Moral Impact

Moral trauma from extermination camps, bombings, and barbarity. Questioning of “Western civilization.” “Crimes Against Humanity” (Nuremberg trials).

3.4) Peace Conferences

1941: Atlantic Charter (USA-Britain); 1943: Tehran Conference (USA, USSR, UK); Feb. 1945: Yalta Conference (same), discussions on the partition and denazification of Germany, new European frontiers; July-August 1945: Potsdam Conference (implementation). 1946: Paris Peace Conference, peace treaties with minor Axis powers.

3.5) Creation of the UN

Need to replace the League of Nations. San Francisco Conference (April-June 1945), 46 founding countries. Objectives: peacekeeping and security, non-interference in domestic affairs, right to self-determination of peoples. General Assembly, Secretary-General, Security Council, Economic and Social Council, UNICEF, UNESCO, International Court of Justice (The Hague).