What types of social events led to World War 1 and World War 2?

Answer 1

The long answerWW1 centered around the "balance of power" like your high school history teacher told you, but there was a lot more to this answer. Basically Austria was on the verge of civil war with a number of Balkan states that never particularly liked being part of Austria. An assassin murdered Arch duke Franz Ferdinand when he visited Sarajevo. Austria was naturally angry and began to prepare for war. The serbs called on Russia (an ally) who sided against Austria. Germany (probably the biggest power) sided with Austria. Russia had been allied with Germany until recently, but had been insulted when the new emporer refused to sign a friendship treaty with Russia. This same emporer loved battleships and had created a huge naval armada. This really annoyed England who had naval supremacy for years, so they sided with Russia. France had suffered numerous humiliating defeats at the hands of both Germany and Austria so they sided with England and Russia too. Germany realizing that it would probably take up to a year for Russia to mobilize moved westward first. Both sides expected the war to be over by Christmas, but they were bogged down for years in trenches because neither side could advance. The allied effort moved forward when the Russians mobilized, when tanks became a useful weapon, and when the Americans entered the war in 1917. America entered because the Germans sank the Lusitania an English passenger vessel with about 150 Americans on-board and because of the Zimmermann note which encouraged Mexico to attack the USA from the south in exchange for help from Germany in retaking territory lost to the USA during the wars of the last century. The note was intercepted by British intelligence and was used to anger the Americans to action. Conspiracy theorists think that the note was a fake created by England to draw the USA into the war. WW2 was even more complicated. The cause of the war begins at the end of WW1. The treaty of Versailles was extremely unfair in its treatment with Germany. They were forced to admit to all guilt of the war. They had a substantial chunk of their country taken away (now part of Poland) and were forced to pay billions to their former enemies to pay for the war. Austria also lost all parts of the empire that did not speak German (more than half of their nation). Adolf Hitler first came on the scene when he attempted a coup in Munich. He was captured and spent a few years in prison. He had a lot of time to think and plan his next moves. He wrote Mein Kampf (my fight or my battle) which outlined a lot of the travesties he later had carried out. The Germans were dealt with so severely that they started to blame all of their problems on their old enemies. The Great Depression also caused extra suffering around the world. Because this suffering was so great German started to ask for mercy and the allies started to grant leniency. Hitler rose to the top of the National Socialist party (nicknamed the NAZIs). This party made a lot of promises to cast off the "Injustice of Versailles." The party's promises gave them more and more power. Hitler (at the top of the party) naturally rose into what was basically the Vice President's seat. Eventually he became the Dictator that History remembers. Once in power Hitler started to test the will of the allies. He started to do things that the Treaty of Versailles strictly forbid like building an army, making weapons, and creating a super-advanced rail and road system to get soldiers anywhere in the country in less than one day. Parts are now the autobahn. Hitler also blamed the Jews for all of the horrible things that had been happening, and this was common practice (not just Hitler). They were boycotted and slowly their rights were taken away. Hitler continued to test the allies. They set up two lines that Germany was not to cross. One Germany could not join up with Austria. Hitler did this early in 1939 (watch The Sound of Music). This was called Der Anschluss (the merger). The other boundary was that Germany could not invade Poland. Hitler did this in late 1939, and WW2 officially started. Keep in mind that although this was an attack on a separate sovereign nation. Much of Poland had belonged to Germany for hundreds of years. Imagine the US losing a war, and being forced to give California to Mexico. The first chance we would get we would try to get it back. Family and friends had been cut off after WW1 that lived in Prussia (Poland after WW1). After the attack on Poland Hitler wasted no time in conquering most of mainland Europe. Germany was joined by Italy and Japan most notably. The US entered the war two years later when they were attacked by Japan at Pearl Harbor.