Lesson Summary
WWI and WWII were two of the most devastating tragedies in human history. The scale of these conflicts had a profound and lasting impact on global events in several key ways. The wars ultimately ended many of the major European monarchies and dynastic empires. They also paved the way for the rise of the United States as the preeminent world power, due to the immense destruction suffered by the great European powers. Because of Germany’s intervention late in WWI that saw Vladimir Lenin sent back to Russia, the Russian Revolution allowed communism to take root and eventually spread throughout the world. WWI and WWII also massively increased the size and scope of the U.S. government.
WWI and WWII are also incredibly complex historical events, and we need to resist the overly simplistic explanations that are too often given. Many times, people use the historical fallacy of a single cause to explain the events of WWI and WWII. In reality, both events are the result of a complex web of historical causes. Another common error when approaching the complexity of these wars is trying to understand WWI through the lens of WWII. The Germany of World War I is not the Germany of World War II. WWI needs to be understood on its own terms, apart from the atrocities committed by the Axis Powers in WWII. On the other hand, WWII must be seen as, in many ways, a direct consequence of the actions taken by the Allied Powers at the end of WWI. While not in any way excusing the great moral evil committed by Germany and Japan, we need to understand the numerous foreign interventions made by the Allied Powers in post–World War I Germany and Japan that ultimately created many of the conditions necessary for the rise of fascism and totalitarianism in those countries.
The many foreign interventions taken by all the great powers of the world from the late 19th century through WWII are largely responsible for creating the complicated chain of events that ultimately brought about both world wars. As students of history, we need to learn from the mistakes of the past and avoid repeating them—mistakes that could once again lead the world toward another cataclysmic military conflict caused by endless meddling in the affairs of other peoples across the world.
