How was World War II different from World War I? What made it more of a "world" war, with extensive violence and loss of population?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

ANSWER:
While technology had certainly advanced to make the First World War an entirely different kind of war, ideology and tactics were also significant components. While nationalism had been the underlying motive behind the Great War, along with an eagerness to use the "new science" of the nineteenth century, there was little understanding of the effects this would have. In the Second World War, there was no lack of understanding, and technology was deliberately used to bring about massive casualties, particularly to civilians (although the first war had caused collateral damage to the population, the primary targets were soldiers). Civilian populations were specifically intimidated and terrorized as a means to force surrender or withdrawal. Also different was the systematic destruction of economies, such as the targeting of industrial regions, even if in rural areas. In World War I, one of the sources of disgruntlement between the Central Powers and the Entente had been over colonization in non-European areas, and a free-for-all broke out over partitioning of the declining Ottoman Empire, while World War II became a much more global fight over the independence of colonies (particularly in Asia), who took the opportunity to protest against Western hegemony. Finally, the Second World War contained the roots of the Cold War and was also partly fueled by racism. In World War II the civilian populations of Europe and Asia suffered from invading armies, disease, starvation, and exposure to the elements. The war created millions upon millions of refugees in Europe and Asia. Millions abandoned their homes or watched them being destroyed. In World War II more civilians were killed than soldiers. Many of these deaths were deliberate murder. In particular, the Nazis attempted to achieve their policy of eliminating entire races of people. Jews were deprived of citizenship and legal rights and forced into ghettoes. In 1942 the "final solution" started the systematic extermination of human beings. Concentration camps such as Auschwitz were created for the sole purpose of extracting work and killing prisoners. It is estimated that over 6 million Jews lost their lives. In addition, 3 million Polish Catholic elite were killed. Other special targets of the Nazis included homosexuals, Jehovah's Witnesses, Gypsies, the disabled, the mentally ill, and Communists. Enemy military forces intentionally targeted cities and industrial areas for destruction in this "total war." In the United States, Japanese civilians were arrested and placed in concentration camps because of their race. The United States dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, killing approximately 200,000 people. Three days later, another atomic bomb destroyed Nagasaki.