World War II example essay topic

" [B] oh sides had seen, in a sad scrawl of broken earth and murdered men, the answer to the question... Neither race had won, nor could win, the War. The War had won, and would go on winning". 1 These are the words of Edmund Blunder, a British soldier who survived the Battle of the Somme, who came to the realization that nobody could claim victory in the twentieth-century mass warfare, because both winners and losers paid a high price. The new type of warfare launched in the twentieth-century had a great impact on the modern world that went beyond the immediate cost of casualties.

2 The psychological, social, economic and technological effect these wars had on those who survived earned this type of conflict a new name: total war, which encompassed all aspects of life. Before 1914, Western society believed in progress, peace, prosperity, reason, and the rights of the individual. During that time, people believed in the Enlightenment, and industrial developments and scientific breakthroughs were a daily reality apparent in the rising standard of living. But World War I crushed all hopes and dreams.

It plunged society in an age of anxiety and uncertainty in almost every area of human life. The social impact of total war was also profound. The role of women changed dramatically as the war greatly expanded their activities and changed attitudes towards them. This change was brought about by the total national readjustment and the mobilization of the home front. In order to wage unrestrained warfare, belligerents had to intervene in the economies, diverting production from peacetime goods to the manufacture of munitions and military equipment. Technological advances also took place, which increased the number of "mechanical contrivances"3 such as heavy, tanks, submarines, and airplanes, which made war an "untrammeled, absolute manifestation of violence"4 as Carl von Clausewitz so eloquently put it.

Total war marked the beginning of a revolution in thought and ideas, where turmoil, uncertainty, and pessimism replaced the cherished values and beliefs of peace, prosperity, and progress. Men and women in the West felt "increasingly adrift in a strange, uncertain and uncontrollable world". 5 In his essay "The Crisis of the Spirit" written in 1919, Paul Val " er, one of France's most outstanding poets, wrote that Europe "doubted itself profoundly". 6 This is certainly true since the terrible trauma of total war left deep scars in the European "spirit".

7 The people were so devastated by the war that they lost faith and hope in a brighter future. They did not have the strength or will to believe in themselves anymore. They also doubted that life would ever return to normal, as it had been before the war. The Western society entered an age of darkness and pessimism. Many intellectuals even began to doubt the future of civilization. Increasing numbers of thinkers and writers expressed their somber views about the new reality of life.

Paul Val " er argued that "the best of life is behind us, that fullness is behind us, but disarray and doubt are in us and with us". 8 People didn't know what to expect anymore. Great numbers of men and women were anxious about what the future held for them. Many feared that another war would break out. Val " er states that "The storm has just ended, and yet we are as disquieted, as anxious, as if the storm were still to break upon us... We do not know what will come forth: still we can reasonably fear it".

9 The storm in this case was the war which left people in such a shock that they looked upon the future with great apprehension and uneasiness. The soldiers that served in the war were hit especially hard by the horror of war. Erich Maria Remarque, a German soldier vividly portrays the carnage of World War II: "We have become wild beasts... [and] crouching like cats we run on, overwhelmed by this wave that bears us along, that fills us with ferocity, turning us into thugs, into murderers, into God only knows what devils". 10 The soldiers that managed to survive this horror felt lost and weary when they had to return home: "Our knowledge of life is limited to death. What will happened afterwards? ...

Now if we go back we will be weary, broken, burnt out, rootless, and without hope. We will not be able to find our way". 11 Total war left the Western society with a feeling of demoralization and apathy. The Great War also brought social changes to the West. The role of women dramatically changed as the war greatly expanded their activities.

The growing needs of the military created an enormous demand for workers. To compensate for the millions of men who were drafted into the armed forces, great numbers of women entered the labour force. They left their domestic service to work in industry, transportation, and offices. The poem "Rosie the Riveter" by Redd Evans and John Jacob Loeb paints a vivid picture of the role that women played in "making history, [w] or king for victory". 12 It also describes the long hours of work that women had to put out in order to fulfill their production quotas. The American propaganda poster of Rosie the Riveter portrays new qualities attributed to women.

They are depicted as strong, proud, reliable, and hard workers who can indeed "do it" all. 13 Dressed in her work uniform, Rosie the Riveter characterizes all the women who assisted in the war effort through their contribution on the home front. In addition, women played an important role at the war front. They drove ambulances, served as nurses and doctors, and distributed food to the soldiers, "undeterred by discomfort and hardship". 14 Furthermore, a number of women "responded with enthusiasm to the call for drafts"15 and by their help, they contributed directly to the victory of the allied forces in the First World War. As a result of their participation in the war effort and the increasing respect they earned, women were granted the right to vote immediately after the war by Britain, Germany and Austria.

16 In general, the war increased women's participation in the society, and helped shed light into their true character. In order for countries to be victorious on the war front, the mobilization of the home front had to be implemented, in order to fully match the growing demands of the armed conflict. This was not an easy task, as it involved the total subordination of the individual to the state, and the strict control of all aspects of life. Thus total war led to the establishment of history's first totalitarian society, with Germany leading the way in this enterprise. 17 Many steps had to be taken in order to accomplish this goal. The free-market capitalism was abandoned and the planned economy was adopted.

Government planning boards were created in order to prioritize and decide what was to be produced and consumed. 18 In his annual message to the Congress in 1942, president Franklin D. Roosevelt proposed an increase in production of airplanes, tanks, anti-aircraft guns, and merchant ships. 19 Every available plant was to be used for war purposes. Roosevelt also stated that the war program will cost the American economy 56 billion dollars, which represented "more than one-half of the estimated annual national income". 20 Another crucial step that needed to be taken was the reduction of raw materials for civilian use, and their diversion to the war needs. Roosevelt mentioned as well that metals and raw materials such as steel, copper, rubber, aluminum, zinc and tin had to be cut "further and still further"21 so that the demands of the war could be fulfilled.

Reichsmarschal Hermann Goering also stated in his 1942 radio broadcast to the German nation that raw materials such as coal and iron should not be wasted, and that anyone who "uses too much power... is committing a sin". 22 Germany took an extra step and set up the War Raw Materials Board which rationed and distributed all kinds of raw materials, from foreign oil to barn manure. 23 Moreover, a recycling program was set up, which made good use of almost any material, from fruit peels to women's hair. 24 Food rations were also installed to limit the available resources. For example, during the last years of Second World War the war, only children and expectant mothers in Germany obtained milk.

25 "All-out" war required many changes to be made on the home front. Capitalism gave out to planned economy, and the production of wartime goods became the first priority. Aggressive steps were also taken to reduce and recycle the raw materials used by the civil population, and food rations were established. The new weapons and new methods of warfare that were developed during World War I dramatically affected the nature of the conflict.

The technological advances in warfare favoured defense over offence. The improved rifles, hand grenades, machine guns, trench mortars and artillery shells, along with mines and barbed wire increased the priced of victory. 26 All sides experimented with gas warfare, tanks, submarines, and airplanes. World War I marked the beginning of chemical warfare in which clouds of poisonous mustard gas contributed to the casualties of the war.

Mustard agent was first introduced during the latter part of the First World War and caused lung and eye injuries to a very large number of soldiers. Tanks were also used for the first time in a new weapon in warfare, and were described by the soldiers as "invulnerable steel beasts" that represented "annihilation". 27 The submarine came into use for the first time on a large scale during World War I. At the beginning of the war, Britain and France established a total naval blockade to strangle to Axis Powers. Germany sped up production of submarines in an effort to control the bottom of the sea. These U-boats were valuable weapons for Germans.

With it they launched unrestricted submarine warfare, sinking warships, merchant ships, and passenger liners, such as the Lusitania. 28 World War I was also the first war in which airplanes and Zeppelins were used. During the war, the planes photographed enemy bases, shot at troops, dropped leaflets, and battled each other in the air. During the Second World War a new offensive form of air power called strategic bombing was launched. Airplanes were used to strike behind the enemy lines in order to cripple the home front. 29 World War II, fought between 1939 and 1945, had several characteristics that distinguished it from World War I: the coordination of all services, armies, air forces, and navies in one common effort, the use of amphibious (combined land-sea operations) warfare, and the coordination of tanks and airplanes in initial attacks, a tactic the Germans called blitzkrieg, meaning 'lightning war'.

30 This was the first fully mechanized war. The method in which World War I was fought was different from the previous wars because of the types of weapons used. Hand grenades, machine guns, poisonous mustard gas, tanks, submarines, and airplanes were introduced for the first time. During the Second World War strategic bombing was used, as well as the form of combat called blitzkrieg. The new type of warfare launched in the twentieth century called total war had a great impact on the modern world. It plunged society into an age of uncertainty and pessimism.

It also had a devastating psychological effect on the soldiers that survived the war and returned home. In addition, unlimited conflict created a social impact that was seen in the increased participation of women in the economy, and their newly gained right to vote. The "all-out" war involved as well the massive mobilization of the home front and the establishment of the first totalitarian society. The introduction of machine guns, poisonous gases, tanks, submarines, and airplanes made total war extremely deadly.

Hopefully, the lessons learned from the past major wars will be applied by today's society, and efforts will be made to avoid at all costs another total war. World War I and World War II should remain to be the Wars to End All Wars.