Compare and contrast the causes of the First World War and the Second World War.
1.
Militarism: Aggressive militarism evident in the causes of WWI and WWII as
seen in the arms race
WWI
–
–
–
War was a valid means to foreign policy
All nations were militaristic – especially Germany and A/H
All nations were rearming in order to maintain ‘balance of power’
WWII
-
Only half of all nations were rearming, including Italy and Japan
Britain and France weren’t really rearming therefore tensions rose.
2.
Germany blamed for both wars
WWI
Alliance system: European nations sought protection by creating
systems; they believed that such alliance systems would actually help
a war → countries were tied together in that if one was involved in a
other would have to follow suit to support
o
Germany had to support A/H in Serbian attack therefore gave the
check
alliance
to prevent
war, the
blank
WWII
Hitler was expansionist: some historians believe that Hitler had always
intended to fight a war → re-run of WWI as he did not believe that Germany had
lost fairly
3.
Nationalism is a major theme evident in both wars
WWI
A/H attacking Serbia shows nationalism among the countries
Difference: Appropriate to be nationalistic → Britain, France and Germany
were belicose
WWII
-
Nazi nationalism was a major theme in war; embedded in ideology
Britain/France were pacifist
Difference: Nationalism was looked down upon and deemed aggressive.
Good. Make sure you draw out the sims and diffs throughout though!