World War 1 – How it All Started

World war 1 was a mass conflict brought to the forefront by many different causes, ones that were brewing even before the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. The Archduke was assassinated in Serbia on June 28th, 1914, and is considered what tipped many nations into a brutal war lasting 4 years and resulting in over 40 million casualties.

Of course, this assassination in Serbia was not the only reason; world war one was started as political imbalance in Europe was developing late in the 19th century and into the beginning of the 20th century. The boiling point can be attributed to some of the following events that led to the start of this great war we all know as world war 1.

Europe was a fast growing powerhouse at the beginning of the 20th century, dominated by the desire of countries like Britain and France to grow a bigger and more powerful military and to expand their colonies all over the world. This desire led to many strong egos across Europe and many disagreements about the way expansion should be handled, particularly by Germany and Russia who were intent on growing and becoming much like Britain and France. The theory of ‘survival of the fittest’ was now taking shape as countries grew at different rates and could begin strong-holding as they saw fit. This shaped the intense arms race that began during the first 10 years of the 20th century.

Additionally, before the start of world war 1, at the start of the 20th century, colonies were being created and were the source of raw material and where finished goods were created for the right to trade and sell. However, the relationships between each of the countries were ruined when trade restrictions were established and limited each of the colonies from growing.

In an attempt to stabilize the political inequality, a number of European countries began seeking out others to form alliances and treaties with in the event that world war 1 begun, mainly to join military forces. Without the collective defense they were certain to be overtaken by the largest armies. Thus, Germany formed an alliance with Austria while France joined forces with Russia. After the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand, Austria and Serbia battled and other countries joined in. Britain, alone up to this point, teamed up with a former enemy in France. At this point in the summer of 1914, Germany declared war on both Russia and France, and at the point in which Germany invaded Belgium, Britain declared war on Germany. And with this, ww1 was started.

The first world war would continue for many more years until it ended on November 11th, 1918.  Frustrations with the state of Europe and the attempt to become the strongest country led to the demise of over 40 million people in the 4 years the war lasted. While the outcome of world war 1 was in fact meant to be the end to all the conflict amongst the countries involved, it actually contributed to the outbreak of World War 2 that started over 20 years later.

World War 1 Causes	Black Adders Interpretation
Was Imperialism The Root Cause?	Is There Blame On All Sides?
World War 1 Summary	World War 1 Was Resulted In The Loss Of Over 17 Million Lives

World War 2 – The Continuation Of World War 1

World War 2 Timeline Summary

Keeping a perspective of events is important when remembering the past, so a world war 2 timeline can be helpful in keeping events in their proper place since it was a time of great change and upheaval for many nations. The events of ww2 are numerous and many will argue about the actual starting date of the war itself but the 1924 Stalin takeover of the Soviet Union is as good a place to begin a timeline as any. In 1937, the USSR became the second largest industrial nation lagging behind the US alone. Then in 1921, Mussolini established the Fascist party, followed by the Japanese takeover of a Manchurian province in China in 1931. These were the events that began social and political upheaval all around the world.

The next events on the world war 2 timeline leading to wwii involve the Nazis, who were then, in 1932, the strongest political party in Europe. In 1935, Hitler violated the treaty of Versailles, choosing to ignore the dictum to disarm and pay heavy restitution to the countries considered the Allied forces in WWI. Instead, he built up an enormous army. The United States tried to stay out of it by passing Neutrality Acts from 1935 to 1939. Three total acts were passed. As of 1937 we continued to trade with China since they weren’t ‘technically’ at war just yet.

In 1938 on the world war 2 timeline, Germany marched straight through Austria under the Nazi regime without any opposition. In 1930 came the Munich agreement after Hitler threatened to invade Czechoslovakia unless he had British support for his takeover of Sudetenland. Germany, France, Britain and Italy met for these agreements. Winston Churchill pointed out to Germany that it did not help prevent war with Germany, but in fact alienated the Czech army, and was a dishonorable way for the British to behave.

When world war ii seemed it could be avoided by much of Britain, the night of broken glass occurred on November 9, 1938 on the world war 2 timeline. Over 250,000 Jews began to flee Germany and Hitler began his attack on Czechoslovakia in 1939. In the same year, Russia and Germany agreed not to fight with one another in their mutual desire to take over the world as dominant World Powers. Germany also invaded Poland in 1939. In that very same year, Britain and France declared war against Germany. In 1940, 32 German planes were shot down by British and French pilots. They lost a few dozen of their own in the process, but overall were considered successful in their air assault.

Considering that Hitler had ignored the Versailles treaty, it shouldn’t have been a surprise when he then overturned the Russia and Germany agreement made just years earlier, and invaded the Soviet Union in the month of June in 1941.These events are what eventually pulled the United States into the second world war. It was in 1941 that Congress passed the Lend Lease Act. African Americans were marching in Washington to protect their own civil rights while all the chaos was brewing abroad. In 1941 on the world war 2 timeline, Japan bombed Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, and America were drawn into World War 2 whether they wanted to be involved or not.

Germany Hungry And Desperate Turns To Extremism And Then War	The Result – World War 2 The Worst War Of All Time
The Horror Of War And Extremism – The Holocaust Of  Jews – Gays – Gypsies – And The Disabled	What Have We Learned? – Here’s Eddie Izzards Take On It What’s Yours?