WORLD WARS COMPARE AND CONTRAST

Color Codes and Symbols

Black Background for World War One

White Background for World War Two

Stared Bullet Points/ Red Text for Similarities

Round Bullet Points for Differences

Specific Countries Highlighted in Blue

Weapons

Rifle: bolt-action rifle, main weapon used by British soldiers, 5 rounds per minute and people 1,400 meters away could be killed

Machine Guns: Main method of killing, took most lives, took 4-6 men to work them, fire-power of 100 guns

Machine Guns (Field Guns): needed up to 12 men to work them, fired shells that exploded on impact

Mustard Gas: Mustard Gas fired into the trenches in shells, takes 12 hours to take effect, Effects include: blistering skin, vomiting, sore eyes, internal and external bleeding (Death can take up to 5 weeks)

Tank: used for the first time at the Battle of the Somme, developed to cope with the conditions on the Western Front

Weapons

Atomic Bombs: Used against Hiroshima and Nagasaki

Tanks: early tanks of Germany technologically inferior to many of opponent's tanks in armor/ firepower, French tanks (generally) outclassed German tanks in firepower/armor in 1940 but had poor command/control doctrine, in 1940 French had one of the largest tank forced in the world along with the Soviet, British and German forces

Bombs: Atomic, Mustard Gas, Napalm (first time used), GB-1s, GB-4s, Disney Rocket Bombs (Used to penetrate U-boat Shelters)

Over View (Weapons)

WW2 weapons more modern than WW1 weapons

Both used tanks

WW1 weapons were more close courters weapons

WW2 weapons were more long distance weapons

Both WW1 and WW2 weapons very effective weapons for time

Tactics

Trench Warfare: First time used in WW1 (New type of war, Trench battles didnt move very far in distance, British defensive doctrine stated that a main trench system of three parallel lines used/interconnected by communications trenches, temporary trenches also built ("Saps" were temporary/unmanned/often dead-end utility trenches dug into no-man's land)

Sea Battles: Used, but scarce

Tactics

Air Raids: First time civilian areas where bombed, Short Stirling was first British four-engine bomber (viewed as Englands first modern bomber), Used in European Theatre

Naval Battles: Used more often than in WW1, Used in Pacific Theatre, Germans has U-boats

Over View (Tactics)

WW1 tactics where all for land

WW1 tactics needed to be for a closer range than WW2 tactics

WW2 tactics had to be for 3 different theaters with different needs (Ex. Naval tactics for Pacific Theatre)

Both had some new tactics (Trench Warfare and the Bombing Of Civilian Areas)

Causes

Serbia wanted to be a country

Secret alliances

Dislike of certain political stances (Ex. Franco and communists)

Nationalism

Germany wanted power

Causes

Dictators/ Those in power wanted more power

Racism was a factor (Ex. Holocaust)

Appeasement ( Germany breaks rules and gets power since no one stops them)

Nationalism

Germany wants more power

Over View (Causes)

Both wars had Nationalism as a cause

WW2 was driven in part by racism while WW1 was not

In both wars, Germany wanted more power

Major Battles

Battle of Verdun: Germany wins decisively over France, was heaviest artillery bombardment, France had only one supply line (sacred Way)

Battle of Jutland: Only major sea battle

Battle of Somme: order to go Over the Top, Worst British loss of war (420,000)

Major Battles

Battle of Midway: First decisive battle in Pacific Theatre, America wins over Japan

Pearl Harbor: was a surprise military strike, was intended as preventive action to keep the U.S. from interfering with military actions Japan, Lead to American entry into war

Over View (Major Battles)

WW2 Had more major sea battles than WW1

Both WW1 and WW2 had sea battles

Both had land battles

Both had very decisive battles

Literature and Poetry

Written to show horrors of Trench Warfare

Freedom of structure (Poetry)

Shows stance on War-For or Against (Poetry)

Shows a lot of feeling

Concise

Descriptive

Literature and Poetry

Abandoned Tradition

Disjointed

Sense of alienation

Opens up to Non-Western influences

Not concise (ambiguious)

Over View (Literature/Poetry)

WW1 and WW2 poetry opposites (Once concise one ambiguous)

Effects

Land destroyed

Great losses in population

American: 117,465

German: 2,476,897

France: 1,697,800

British: 1,225,914

Effects

Great Depression Land Destroyed Germany in debt People suffered form radiation poisoning due to Atomic Bombs 142,000 Jews killed in Germany alone 5,709,329 Jews killed total (in all countries) Loss in population (Civilian and military combined)

Germany: 4,200,000 Japan: 2,350,000 Axis Powers Combined: 8,268,000 U.S.: 400,000 Soviet Union: 20,000,000 France: 600,000 Allied Powers Combined: 39,963,700

Over View (Effects)

In WW1 no one was killed due to religion

Land was destroyed due to both wars

WW2 cost more lives than WW1 (More than double the number for Germany in WW2 than WW1)

Both wars caused many lives to be lost in general

Summative Statement

WW2 was very different than WW1 and was much worse; More lives where lost, more destructive weapons came about like the atom bombs, and the change from it being a war crime to the use/acceptance of bombing innocent civilians.

When I started this project, I knew the wars where going to be very different.

However, I did expect them to have more similarities beyond the fact that they

were both world wars and the other obvious similarities. Mustard gas was used

in both wars, but was used in a bomb in WW2. World War Two used tanks more

frequently than WW1, with each country having more than one type of tank. For

example Germany had 8 different types of tanks, while Japan had 2) both wars

included naval battles, but these where extremely more frequent in WW2 due to

the war with Japan in the Pacific theater. The obvious similarities that they

shared were; being world wars, the use of advanced weaponry (at the time),

being devastating to the populations, and sharing the cause of Germany leaders

wanting more power.

Just as I predicted, these wars were extremely different. WW2 cost

Germany roughly twice the number of lives that WW1 cost them. The reasons

behind the wars were also different. The First World War didnt have the

racial/religious tension behind it like the second one. No one in the first one died

due to sexual orientation, religion, or race. Roughly 5,709,329 Jews were killed,

and thats not including the number of people murdered for being gay, a gypsy,

or being a Jehovahs whiteness. WW1 was a war fought heavily with guns of

different types. On the other hand, WW2 was fought with more tanks and bombs.

The artillery of WW2 was more accurate and more destructive on a larger scale.

WW2 also had more naval battles than WW1. The battles of WW1 were also less

decisive than those of WW2. In WW1, the trenches didnt move very far.

However, in WW2, one side would lose way more lives than another. (Think

battle of midway. Four Japanese aircraft carriers and a heavy cruiser were sunk

in exchange for one American aircraft carrier and a destroyer.)