The ends of both, World War I and World War II, brought intentions of world peace, but only one offered long lasting solutions. Due to the conclusions of the wars being increasingly different, the argument is that they were similar in intent, but were different in approach to peace and in results. The end goal of attaining world peace through the conclusions of both wars brought along new policies, which would later either help or hinder the efforts made by world nations. The consequences of WWI and WWII differ and the implication of this argument is to corroborate the prevention of World War III.
The end of World War I and World War II had similar intentions of achieving perpetual peace. Allied powers, including the United States, Britain, and France, won and had objectives to remain in power and attaining world peace. At the end of WWI the American troops, with the help of the Allies, were given a military advantage. During the fall of 1918 the German front was collapsing and men were deserting, rebelling, and refusing to fight, causing the surrender of the German and Austro-Hungarian armies. Leaders, like Vladimir Lenin, believed that the entire war was nothing but an imperialistic land-grab, undercutting the morality of the Allied cause in the war. However, President Woodrow Wilson believed that the war was in fact, not about acquisitions and imperialism, but about peace and freedom. He outlined his proposal, known as the Fourteen Points, as “peace without victory”, which inevitably was not followed through with, but paved the way for peace after WWII. The second World War was insightful in the ways a war could change nations. After the war ended in 1945, plans for the postwar world would be enacted and the Allies made a plan of international cooperation. After WWI, in 1919, the victorious Allies held a peace conference in Versailles. The Paris Peace Conference allowed the Allies to talk and make claims about what they expected in the post war world. The Allied leaders, besides President Wilson, expected Germany to be blamed and pay for war damages. They had intentions of peace through weakening Germany so it would never threaten Europe again. Similar to the ending of World War I, when World War II came to a close the allies called for a conference to set post war goals. The Yalta Conference and Potsdam was where the Big Three, Churchill/Clement Atlee (Britain), FDR/Truman (United States), and Stalin (Russia) formalized their decisions. The Treaty of Paris was drawn up to end WWII in December 1945. It divided and rebuilt Germany in hopes of preventing world domination by not only Germany, but other countries as well. The Fourteen Points made by President Wilson after WWI had the similar intent of achieving world peace, like the actions made by governments after WWII, and would have made a better impact on the world after WWI. The reason the Fourteen Points didn’t work for WWI is because no country believed in it except for Wilson. The details discussed in President Wilson’s plan is similar to the actions made by America after WWII. In the Fourteen Points, it states things such as, make no secret diplomatic agreements, allow freedom of the seas in peace and war, remove as many economic trade barriers as possible between countries, adjust colonial claims, restore Russian territories, and establish an association of nations to provide collective security and to ensure peace. After seeing the effects of not having these principles for peace, the nations of the world retracted and enacted things such as the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), which would expand world trade by reducing tariffs, forming the United Nations (UN), which not only offered “an association of nations to provide collective security”, but also aided the move away from colonialism, and the Marshall Plan, that helped political stability and assured economic peace. While the intent of both conclusions was lasting world peace, the reality was much different.
The ends of World War I and World War II resulted in different occurrences that would later impact the way peace would be attained. After WWI, blame was placed on Germany by the Allied leaders. Germany was blamed for starting the war and the leaders insisted that they pay for war damages. The Allied countries, including Britain and France, knew that the citizens of their nations expected both peace and victory. Victory could only be attained by placing blame. German citizens were regarded as the worst people in the world and faced discrimination, ultimately resulting in Hitler and the onslaught of WWII. Contrarily, the end of WWII did not result in blame, but in the approach to reformation. The United Nations issued the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which stated, “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act toward one another in a spirit of brotherhood”. The Declaration goes on to uphold human rights and says, “everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and his family.” This document does not place guilt and liability on the countries that were at war, but helps relieve and upholster the belief that all people should be treated equally. At the end of WWI many countries went into a depression due to a faltering economy. In America for example, during the war there was a need for crops, but once the war ended the demand dropped, causing overproduction and underconsumption. The effects of World War I and the Great Depression expanded over many nations, which resulted in some countries having a rise in brutal dictatorship. This dictatorship and totalitarian state would destroy what had resembled international peace after WWI and would result in an even deadlier global conflict. After WWII, however, the countries did not go into an economic crisis with the help of Secretary of State George C. Marshall and his recovery plan. The Marshall Plan provided a range of assistance to Europe. It would help by providing food to reduce famine, fuel to heat houses and factories, and money to jump-start economic growth. The good relationships that the aid created also assisted in working against the expansion of communism. The end of WWI caused the nations of the world to embrace a policy of isolationism. Countries like Britain, France, and the United States, could not be bothered to deal with other countries problems. When the dictators Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini turned to aggression they were not stopped. The League of Nations had no army and no real power to enforce its decrees. It was only as strong as its members’ resolve and during a worldwide depression the members lacked that. In many ways, the League of Nations didn’t recover from America’s refusal to join and the international isolationism brought along appeasement, which was believed to bring peace, only helped Hitler. Globalism at the end of WWII brought peace to the world due to the countries realizing their decisions were mistakes that contributed to the rise of fascism and outbreak of another war. The United Nations was established as an international peacekeeping organization and a place for resolving conflicts between nations. At its core, the United Nations is where international relationships would be cooperative and disputes would be resolved through peaceful negotiation, not with the use of threats and force.
Blame vs Heal
Appeasement vs
Imperialism vs Self-determination
Reparations vs Marshal Plan
Depression vs General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade
Globalism vs isolationism