How was World War 1 and World War 2 linked?

Answer 1

The major similarity to me is that both were caused by countries trying to do away with the status quo in the international system. In both cases, the war came about because a country or countries wanted more power than it had in the international system at the time.

A major cause of WWI was the fact that Germany was trying to get more power than it had had. This scared many other countries (notably France, England and Russia) and made them want to go to war with Germany to preserve the balance of power.

A major cause of WWII was the fact that both Germany and Japan (and to some extent Italy) felt that they did not have the amount of power that they deserved. Germany wanted to regain the power it lost in WWI. Japan wanted to have a large empire and to be treated as a major power. The Allies resisted this because they were happy with the status quo.

So, I would argue that the major similarity is in the fact that the two wars were caused by very similar factors.