Chapter 20 Big Picture Question

Looking at the causes of World War I and II, the big causes were nationalism, imperialism, alliances, and appeasement. There's no simpler way to look at it. World War I largely led to Word War II. So first, let us examine WWI. First, there was the assassination of ArchDuke Franz Ferdinand. This mobilized countries against each other in war, and subsequently their allies. It was horrible; it was trench warfare. Europe hoped that it would never happen again. In the end, it was World War II that changed things though. Europeans were appeasing Hitler, and appeasing him and appeasing him. Obviously, this led to fierce alliances that would look very odd considered todays political climate. 

If we are to look at what problems were solved though, imperialism is a great one. People all over the world saw that they could throw the shackles off. They saw that they were important players in this world. Next, I would say the formation of the United Nations was directly influenced by World War II, and gave nations a forum to work together on complex global issues. 

World War II also gave nations a new respect for the power of war. World War II brought about weapons that were capable of unimaginable destruction. This made countries rethink any desire for conflict. The men returning from the war were not interested in fighting. Especially in Germany where much of the aggression for World War II stemmed from the resentment for the resolution to World War II. 

The most obvious legacies to the future were the cold war. The United States and Germany knew that an exchange of nuclear weapons would decimate their countries if not the entire world. This led to an arms race and subsequent reduction in weapons in the former soviet countries and United States. 

The resolution to World War II also set the stage for the US to become global police, and a real world power. In the fight against communism, the US made a lot of friends, and then turned them to enemies. I think it could be argued that the legacy left from World War II for the US directly led to the Global War on Terror. 

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