World Wars Comparison Chart Topic Similarities Differences Start of Wars -Both wars began with an action that other countries could not ignore. -In World War I, the Austro-Hungarian empire thought it could take over Serbia with no one intervening and in World War II Germany thought it could take over Poland with no one intervening (especially since the British and French didn t do anything when Germany took over other countries. -World War I began because of the death of a royal official, and other countries were pulled into the war because of their secret treaties and World War II began with the invasion of a whole country (Poland) and deaths of many people. -In World War I, people did not know who had made treaties to help whom. The only secret treaty in World War II was the one between Germany and Russia, to take control of Poland. Russia ultimately switches sides because Germany ignores the agreement and invades Russia, too. -In WWI, many soldiers were excited to fight and worried the war would end before they could. Whole villages of young men signed up together (and were killed together in the same awful battles). In WWII, people were wary about fighting, because they remembered WWI, but the great evil of the Axis powers was seen as one that needed to be confronted (although both GB and France entered the war more slowly in WWII).
U.S. Entrance into war -Before the US was officially in both wars, it was supplying the Allies side with weapons and machinery and other support (food, etc). -Attacks against the US were used to justify why the US needed to act in both wars. -The US joined both wars when it was clear that they were being threatened. -In WWI, the US at first said it would sell to whomever wanted to buy and then changed to sell supplies mainly to the Allied powers. In World War II, the US was concerned about the Germans quick defeat of many countries and told Great Britain they could have whatever they needed to keep fighting (the Lend-Lease Act). -The incident most used for WWI was an attack on the Lusitania, a passenger ship (that was also carrying munitions, though this part wasn t publicized until much later), in 1915. In WWII, the attack was on US soil, in Hawaii (Pearl Harbor). -In WWI, the US was being impacted economically by loss of ships and was worried about a possible alliance Germany was forming with Mexico (where they said Mexico would get back all their land, if they won). -In WWII, the US had been sanctioning the Japanese (limiting what they would sell to them, especially oil) before the attack on Pearl Harbor.
Technolo gy Homefro nt -Both wars saw the introduction of new technology to support the war effort. -Both wars saw a world-wide desire to limit the technology, after its use in the war (Mustard gas and other chemicals in WWI; atomic weapons in WWII). -Both wars saw the use of airplanes. -In WWI and WWII tanks were used, although barely in WWII, and in both wars airships were used as a way of transportation, most notably the German Airship Hindenburg. Both used aerial combat. -New weapons, such as machine guns in WWI and tanks in WWII became common in other wars that followed them. -Many of the innovations of rationing in WWI were used and expanded in WWII people were encouraged to use less meat, sugar, butter and to grow their own vegetables in both wars. -Men leaving to fight and the increase in production of items for the war led to many job openings in both wars. -More women went into non-traditional jobs in both wars. -Propaganda was created to support the war effort in both wars, and in both wars it often portrayed the enemy as inhuman and drew on images that people would see as negative and evil. In both wars, the images of women, children etc (who would be saved by the war effort) were almost always white (Gretchen s note: I have yet to see one that wasn t!) -In WWI, many old technologies, like horses and marches on the enemy were still used, alongside new weapons. -In WWI, airplanes were used somewhat for bombing but mainly for reconnaissance and other tasks. -In World War II, airplanes played a crucial role in bombing areas before troops moved in, saving troop lives but increasing civilian casualties. The Germans especially used this strategy in blitzkrieg offenses. -Campaigns encouraging rationing and Victory Gardens were more well-developed for WWII and were put into place faster. -In WWI, the job openings led to a surge in African Americans moving North (part of the Great Migration ); in WWII, the need for farmers led to a guest worker program (called the Bracero program) for Mexicans who wanted to work in the US. -In WWI, The Sedition Act and the Espionage Act were created during the war to silence opposition towards the US government and uphold a feeling of patriotism and get rid of traitors.
Civil Rights In both wars, people who were of the same ethnic group as the U.S. s enemies had different rights than other citizens. -German Americans had problems in both wars: While some German Americans (and Italian Americans) had their lives threatened in World War I (and one was lynched), German Americans in World War II were only sent to the internment camps if they had connections to the government of Germany. -German-Americans were treated very badly in WWI. The German-Americans were not allowed to speak, write, or even talk on the phone in German. If they did and they got caught the consequences were very severe. The German- Americans could be fined or put in jail. - After the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 that propelled the U.S government into WW2, President Franklin Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066 in February of 1942, resulting in the relocation and incarceration of everyone of Japanese descent living near military zones (regardless of ties to the Japanese government). Nearly 120,000 Japanese Americans were interned and were treated with distrust and suspicion for many reasons. The main being that Americans claimed to be afraid of the possibility that anyone of Japanese descent was still loyal to Japan and were undoubtedly spies. Those that were worried about their possessions put them in storage and were promised that they were to be protected, but when they were released all their valuables were taken or lost, including their homes. The camps were basic prisons. Or at least very similar to them. They had lights-out and assigned quarters. They had roll-call, barbed wire, and even machinegunned guards. And, unfortunately, all they were, were prisoners.
Women End of Wars -Women served in the war in both wars, but in very different roles. -Women s increased work in the war effort made childcare a need and an issue. -When both wars ended, women were pressured to leave their jobs so that they didn t take it away from a man who needed it feed his family (many women were using the jobs to support their families, too, but this was not argued!) -The ending of both wars caused the start of something else the harsh treatment of Germany at the end of WWI led to problems in the German economy that made Germans susceptible to someone like Hitler who said he could make them great again. The use of the atomic bomb to end the war in the Pacific led to a tense stand off between the US and USSR (the Cold War ) that lasted until the 1990s and that led to an arms race between the countries to see who could build stronger and more nuclear weapons and rockets. -Both wars ended, in part, because of the entrance of the US into the wars in WWI, this effect was more immediate. In WWII, it took much longer. -Both wars ended with many lives lost in the fighting of the wars and people deeply disillusioned about the effect of the war and whether or not it had been worth it. -In WW1 women became nurses because that was almost the only area of female contribution. In WWII, Women served in the Army, Navy Nurse Corps, Women s Army Corps, Navy, and the Marine Corps Women Reserve. Almost 400,000 women served in the U.S. with the armed forces a number that exceeded total male troop strength in 1939. - Women used World War I as a way to draw attention to the need for women to vote (protested outside White House). The 19 th Amendment, guaranteeing the right to vote for people, regardless of sex, was ratified in 1920. -World War I ended with Germany surrendering on 11-11-1918, in part because they were persuaded that the peace treaty would be fair (it wasn t). -World War II ended when the Allies were finally able to overpower the Germans on enough fronts for Germany to see no way out of the war (8 May 1945). War continued in the Pacific theater until the dropping of the Atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August of 1945. The US gave Japan an ultimatium to end the war, then dropped the first bomb. They gave Japan another ultimatum and then dropped the second one. After this devastation, the war finally ended (Aug. 15, 1945). It was argued that Truman dropped the bombs to save the Allied powers from a difficult battle if it tried to take the Japanese mainland by conventional methods.