Wars have always been an integral part of humanity. Since the appearance of different societies and countries, war has become the main remedy to solve some conflicts. Moreover, in the infancy of mankind wars were local as it was very difficult to reach some place situated far from the countries in war. Additionally, the greater part of the world was undiscovered. However, with the development of society wars became more extensive and greater number of countries became involved.
New means of transport gave the possibility to reach almost any place in the world. It became possible to make the campaign thousand miles away from the homeland. New technologies and weapons promoted increase of the severity of wars. Moreover, they opened the door to a new kind of war. World Wars became one of the main characteristics of the 20th century. Being devastating and disastrous, they became one of the most mournful events in the history of humanity.
Touching the issue of the world wars, it is necessary to analyze the WW I in order to see the background of this phenomenon. The beginning of the 20th century was characterized by a great tension between the leading world powers. There were two main blocks of states in Europe which had the majority of the world in the sphere of their interests. These blocks were Triple Alliance, which consisted of Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy, and Triple Entente, comprised of Russia, England and France.
Being the most powerful states in the world, these courtiers had their own interests and purposes which contradicted with the purposes of other states. That is why, the confrontation was inevitable. The formal reason for the war became the murder of Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo. This assassination led to the July crisis, which then turned into the first military conflicts. The First World War had begun.
Having started as the conflict between two blocks, this war, however, grasped almost all continents and countries. Main participants of the war were huge colonial empires with a great number of states and territories under their control. That is why, military operations obtained such a great scope. Moreover, new technologies promoted development of new methods of war. Aviation and artillery, tank troops and chemical weapon resulted in absolutely new character of the war. Solders had to learn new warfare. Moreover, new weapons were much more devastating and dangerous than the previous ones. This fact resulted in a great number of victims among soldiers and civilians. The whole cities became destroyed. Additionally, huge armies became one of the peculiarities of the war.
America had a history of noninvolvement in European wars and tried to remain neutral. (World War I (1914-1918), n.d.). Ocean, which separated this continent from Europe, served as a good natural barrier which could save America from horrors of the war. However, very soon it became impossible to remain neutral. Belligerents tried to provide blockade of their opponents. That is why, Germany destroyed American ship Lusitania and three other ships.
As a response to these actions, on April 2, 1917 the USA entered the war. It became the ally of England and France. Giving much attention to naval forces, the USA also had some land operations, helping British and French troops to fight with Germany. However, having entered the war in 1917, the USA caught its final phase, characterized by inactive military operations and trench warfare. It was clear, that the end of this horrible conflict was not far.
The First World War ended in 1918. It was not the longest war in the history of humanity, however, people had never seen such disastrous results before. Participation of a great number of different countries in military actions led to a great number of causality. More than 9 million of solders and 7 million of civilians died as a result of different battles and military conflicts (De Schaepdrijver, 2013). Moreover, this war led to the collapse of German and Russian Empires. Being involved in the war, these countries also suffered from the civil conflicts which, in their turn, led to even more devastating results. Additionally, people suffered from hunger and epidemics which resulted in great number of death from diseases and attenuation. The aftermath of the First World War became a great shock for people all over the world.
Having analyzed the data, it is possible to make certain conclusion. First of all, it should be said that the war of this sort became possible due to the development of different technologies and weapons. New means of transport allowed more effective transportation of troops. Moreover, this fact promoted involvement of a great number of countries in this conflict. Being the first war of this kind in the history of humanity, World War I led to the development of new strategies and weapons. However, it was also a powerful push for development of different sciences and medicine primarily. Having resulted in millions of death, the First World War, unfortunately, was just a preface to another, even more devastating conflict.
References
De Schaepdrijver, S. (2013). Military occupation, political imaginations, and the First World War. First World War Studies, 4(1), 1-5. Web.
World War I (1914-1918). (n.d.). Web.