...to dissect creation and find some sort of semblance of meaning that might justify our existence. The list of our accomplishments is immeasurably vast. However, man might have proved that he can reach for ideals, but he has not proved that he can maintain them. We may have climbed mountains, but we have not been able to live for long in such high places. Despite our accomplishments, humanity’s failings have been just as extensive. Our history is also scarred with a long list of wars, injustices, unnecessary deaths, prejudices, hatreds, and disappointments. The pinnacle of our shortcomings, the end-point to our intellectual development as a species, can best be understood in the context of our World Wars. Although humanity has always lived side-by-side with war, never before in our history has so much widespread violence destroyed so many idyllic hopes and dreams. Never before was there such an example of our ignorance as a species, and blatant disregard for our intellectual successes. Both World Wars demonstrate...
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...World War 1 (WW1), from 1914 and 1918, and World War 2 (WW2), which occurred between 1939 and 1945, were two significant battles known to almost all Americans today. These wars were caused by several factors, in which some are alike and some are different. Their causes differ in that one of World War 1’s reasons for war included the German U-boats sinking the Lusitania. On the other hand, one different cause of World War 2 was the Treaty of Versailles. Both wars are alike in that they both were caused due to militarism, imperialism, and nationalism. In analyzing the causes of both wars, it’s crucial to know that there were similarities and differences because of their time periods of occurrence (for different events happening) as well as the...
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...The Korean War was over communism itself and that was what this war was about. “By July, American troops had entered the War on South Koreas behalf, as far as American officials were concerned, it was a war against the forces of international communism itself”(history.comstaff). This relates because this quote was talking about the forces of international communism and how the war was mainly over communism. It was also talking about how the war entered on South Korea’s behalf and South Korea is a communist nation. 2 started and then that is when the Korean War came to an end and around 5 million people lost their lives and over 100,000 people were injured” (History.comstaff). My thesis was talking about the violence that this war caused and...
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...Does the Cold War have its roots in the period prior to WW11? There are many reasons to believe that the seed of conflict between the west and east was planted before the Second War World had begun. Amongst them being factors of ideological differences, agreements such Brest-Litovsk treaty and the Russian Civil War. Other less significant causes being USSR dishonouring their debts they owed to western countries like France as well as the murder of the Tsars. However, it should be asserted how even with these factors there was still a substantial reason for the allied countries to be able to have stable relationship if other causes in the later future after the second war did not occur. These later causes include agreements such as the Nazi-Soviet Pact and Chamberlain’s Appeasement Policy. Events such as these helped increase tensions between the USSR and the USA as well as bringing the conflict into more focus and attention by two parties, causing increased mistrust and panic from both sides. This query will examine whether the Cold War did indeed have its roots in the period before War World Two and if so then to what extent are the factors significant as causes. Starting with the causes prior to the second war, one of the biggest and initial disputes between USSR and the other allies were their differing ideologies. USSR’s values as a communist state were entirely different to the capitalism of the West. Unlike Capitalism, communism supported closed economy in which trading...
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...Nearly all of Europe was involved in World War I. The spark that set off the war was when a Serb from a Serbian nationalist group assassinated Archduke Ferdinand of Austria. Soon, nation after nation started declaring war on each other. However, there were other factors which influenced the war; militarism, alliances, imperialism, and nationalism. Of these underlying causes, the most significant are imperialism, militarism, and most importantly, alliances. Imperialism played an important role in starting World War I. Many European countries controlled the economic systems of other countries, including Austria-Hungary. Austria-Hungary annexed Bosnia, and in doing so, “[aggravated] relations with Serbia and Russia” (What Started the War?). This...
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...The Cause of World War One World War I began on July 28, 1914, and was fought between two sides. The Triple Alliance, which was Austria-Hungary, Germany, and Italy; against the Triple Ententes, which was Britain, France, and Russia. The war was fought for a total of four years, three months, and two weeks, and ended on November 11, 1918. Before the war took place, other wars such as the Crimean War, the Franco-Prussian War, and the Russo-Japanese War were going on. The four main causes of World War I were militarism, a strong pride in your military; alliances, the formal agreement of cooperation between countries; imperialism, the expansion of land through force or diplomacy; and nationalism, the pride and loyalty to one’s nation. The formation...
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...There are a lot of causes and ways World War II got started. A lot of tension and turmoil from World War I and also from Hitler is what really led up to the world having its second world war. Some causes of the war is Hitler not going by the orders of other countries. Another is the Great Depression that was around the world and led to a bunch of turmoil and bad blood and led up the second World War. One big cause that led up to WWII was the turmoil left behind from WWI. According to the article “The causes of World War II” on sunysuffolk.edu there was an economic collapse and Germany started getting a strong military and disobeying the Treaty of Versailles. Germany was not happy and felt they were being treated harsh and unfair because of...
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...What were the causes of the world wars? World War one have seven causes; the Franco-Prussian war, the alliance systems, the Balkan Powder Keg, imperialism, Nationalism, Arms Race, the Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand occurred. The Assassination of the Archduke, top off world war one, once he was killed, the people were looking for reason to start a war, so they did. World War two also had several causes, such as; nationalistic tensions, unresolved issues, and disapproving result from World War I and the interwar period in Europe, and all these causes were in addition to the Great Depression in the 1930s. What role did nationalism play in the world wars? Nationalism played a major role in World War 1 as well as World War 2. During both of the wars, Germany was involved in both wars. Germany had such a strong patriotism that they felt they would do whatever they had to keep it that way. How are imperialism and colonialism related to the world wars? Imperialism and colonialism related to the world wars because during the wars, the smaller nation were being bullied by the German government and were basically force to do things the German way What was the role of industrialization in the world wars? Basically during the wars, factories were built so they can make weapon for wars better and faster. How do the Enlightenment ideals of liberty and equality relate to the world wars? The enlightenment ideas of liberty can be related to the world wars, because...
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...I disagree with the question that it was the American foreign policy that was the cause of the cold war, but instead agree with the fact that it was the difference in ideological views that was the most important factor. The American foreign policies, national interests and the personalities of the leaders all had input to the War and therefore, the War reached such extent. The Cold War was a power vacuum which was to drag the bipolar powers into, which happened to be the USA and the Soviet Union. The American foreign policy did have an impact on the Cold War however, was not the cause. This revisionist view presents America to be the cause of the Cold War. America’s main foreign policy was to secure free markets in which they saw the Soviet Union as an obstacle to achieve this. This led to tension between the two superpowers and a more aggressive War between the bipolar powers. The US also used the atomic bomb as a deliberate foreign policy to pressure the Soviet Union. Source K also holds this view that 'after the atomic bomb was created and used... it left the Soviets with but one real option: either they acquiesce in American proposals or be confronted with American power and hostility.' This led to more aggressive Soviet behaviour because by the USA not informing Stalin of such major equipment, he felt as though he could no longer trust the West. However, the Baruch plan in June 1946 proposed joint US and USSR control over the production of atomic weapons in which the...
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...not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones." Albert Einstein The Cold War probably one of the most memorable wars to date because of the lack of actual fighting. The Cold War last from 1946 to 1991 when it was finally ended. It was a battle of power with no actual war between the USA and USSR. Yes, there were wars of democracy against communism in such countries of Korean and Vietnam but it wasn’t direct fighting of the two super powers. The Cold War can teach the current world leaders such a significant amount of knowledge. On how such wars are futile and honestly useless because it solves nothing and only frightens the whole world in fear of a nuclear war. The Cold War was started right after World War II when the Allies in World War II alliance fell apart. The reason this powerful alliance fell apart is simple. Stalin believed that the delay of D-Day was Britain and the USA’s attempt to weaken the Soviet Union, along with the fact that Stalin and Churchill argued over how much control Stalin would get over the countries of Eastern Europe. These factors contributed to the start of the Cold War right after World War II. The Cold War was not really a war like previous wars it was a threat from both sides of nuclear war. Both sides had nukes and both were willing to use them in the event of an attack. The Cold War was a war of words and nothing more really. Both sides had ideas and thoughts of what the other...
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...to the first world war, some more influential than others. In the late eighteen-hundreds into the early nineteen-hundreds tensions were high in Europe. Countries were forming alliances, taking over land, and building up their military in order to become the most powerful and influential country in Europe. A Serbian group of rebels killed the archduke of Austria-Hungary which sparked tensions between the two. This dragged in alliances, which became the main cause of the war because it forced countries to pick sides. Militarism and a “race for arms” was the second biggest contributing factor because it made it a competition for other countries to build their military. A combination of these two things caused a political conflict between two countries to turn...
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...Tim Lerner History 10 November 2012 Midterm Part Two 8) WWI-in reality The first world war was unlike any other war. The living conditions were terrible because they were living in trenches for months. They had to deal with the fear dying from being shot because of the skilled snipers, gases being thrown into trenches, which have never appeared in any other war, and the deaths from diseases. People were dying daily and were in fear of just peaking their heads out side of the trenches but there was also issues with living in the trenches. Soldiers had infestations of rats, lice and other new medical issues come from living in the trenches. First off the rats in the trenches feared because the ate the remains of the others soldiers who had passed. These rats carried many diseases and got into everything. The soldiers were contently trying to fight them off and get rid of them but they populated so quickly it was hard to keep up. Also these rats would get to be as large as house cats from time to time. Lice became another big issue because they spread quickly and caused illness like trench fever which starts of as pain through out the body then a fever. Due to living in trenches the area was always wet and moist. Many soldiers got trench foot, which is a fungal infection, that was caused by their feet consistenly moist and in unsanatary areas. Living in these conditions and being cooped up in these trenches for weeks would make anyone crazy. The trenches were always crowed...
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...War Name Course Date War is defined as an organized and prolonged conflict carried out by countries or individuals within or outside a country. War is generally characterized by brutal or extreme violence, displacements of populations and both social and economic disruption or destruction. War is an actual, widespread and intentional armed conflict between countries. War is regarded as a form of political violence because countries are political creations or entities. When war is absent piece prevails. There are several types of war, namely; civil war, asymmetrical, conventional, chemical, unconventional, nuclear warfare among others. In civil war the warring sides are from the same country or political entity and what is at stake is either the control of the nation and instruments of power or one side is trying to break away or secede. In asymmetrical war, the combatants or feuding sides are not evenly marched in terms of military capability and therefore the weaker side engages in guerilla tactics in order to counter the huge disadvantage it is faced with. Conventional war is defined as a war whose main aim is to reduce or minimize the enemy’s capability mostly through battles. It is a war mostly fought by states and their allies. Unconventional war on the other side refers to a war whose main purpose is to attain military victory through use of clandestine activities such as supporting secretly one side in a...
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...The Main Reasons of the War in August 2008 Literature Review Course: Academic Writing December 22, 2014 Introduction There are lots of unsolved conflicts in contemporary world, among which is the issue of so called South Ossetia Region. As new government of Georgia came in to the power in 2004, territorial integrity became one of the major concerns to be solved. At that time the majority of Georgian society thought that integrity issue would be solved in the peaceful manner. However, since then, events developed in such way that in August 2008 military conflict launched in South Ossetia. The nature of this conflict had significant implications for regional and international power politics. According to the American scientist Kenneth Waltz “peace is the one among a number of ends simultaneously entertained… To explain how peace can be more readily achieved requires an understanding of the causes of the war”. After the war between Russia and Georgia the whole world was concerned about what was the reason of the August war? This paper attempts to review some literature about this topic trying to answer this main question and create even a little understanding of the views that were expressed during or after the war. According the literature reviewed, views about causes of the war can be divided in two parts. First part is about interests’ contradiction between Russia and the USA and the second – about “Matter” of Saakashvili. Interests’ contradiction – Russia...
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...representation of how close the world is to a global catastrophic event, struck 2 minutes before midnight. Tensions were at its peak as the United States and the Soviets had their stock piles of nuclear warheads pointed and ready to be launched in response to an attack. The question this paper will be answering is, ‘what event was the trigger behind this near catastrophic situation?’ Although there is no specific event that all historians agree upon the cause of the Cold War, a Soviet cipher clerk who defected to Canada and exposing the Soviet spy ring in North America is largely credited as the man who start the Cold War. To determine whether a cipher clerk can single-handedly start the largest confrontation between...
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