World War 1 And 2 Comparison Essay

Similarities and differences between WWI and II

Both of the World Wars got their names from the global scale of their impact. New technology changed the way both wars were fought, but WWI’s outcomes also influenced WWII. Also, technologies that were first developed in WWI were improved upon during WWII and new ones were made. World War I was fought between the Allies, primarily Britain and France, and the Central Powers, Germany and Austria-Hungary and several other countries. World War II was fought between the allies, Britain, the US, and the Soviet Union, and the axis powers, Germany, Italy, and Japan. Both World Wars were fought using more advanced weaponry and technology than previously used; however, they were fought using different strategies,

Machine guns were very important weapons on the battlefield because they could fire rapidly and kill many soldiers causing soldiers in WWI to make trenches to avoid bullet fire. Airplanes were also first used for combative purposes in WWI. Flight was still very crude, so it was first used for reconnaissance purposes such as tracking German troop movements. Airplanes advanced quickly during the war, so they were also used for bombing and fighting. Mortars made many advancements during the WWI and were useful because they could be fired from the trenches. Heavy artillery, the deadliest weapon of WWI, became larger, more mobile, and more accurate. WWI was the first for many weapons, the tank and airplane especially, that changed future wars. (Llewellyn; Trueman; “Weapons of World War

In response to machine guns and heavy artillery, soldiers dug trenches. The Central Powers and Allies both had a system of trenches that was composed of a series, usually three, of parallel trenches that were connected by perpendicular trenches used for communication and transportation. The opposing trench systems were separated by barbed wire and “no man’s land,” a crater marked land. The trenches were defended with machine guns and heavy artillery. The permanent positions of the trenches prevented any soldiers from conquering land. This lead to a stalemate that lasted for the rest of the war. To try and break the stalemate, the army tried blowing up enemy trenches from underground. Trench warfare lead to a long war of attrition that was finally broken by the introduction of fresh troops from the United States of America. (Hadingham; “Trench