What were the cause of both the 1st and 2nd world war?

Answer 1

People wanting power.

Answer 2

The 1st WW caused the 2nd, ish, well the 1st was caused by the assasination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, who was the son of some Austrian chancellor or something, and they blamed it on someone else and it sort of rolled on from there.
But when the war was over Britain, France and America all blamed Germany, and mde them pay reparations that they could not afford in a lifetime, they also put on restrictions to their army and navy so that if Germany was ever attacked they would never be able to defend themselves. Germany had no money and moral was low, so when a bloke called Adolf Hitler came along saying 'we will get back what was stolen' then everybody was thrilled, so he started putting troops back in the Rheinland (a place just next to france where they weren't allowed any froces) and the allies all let him, then he stopped paying reperations and we let him, and he started building up his forces and we still didn't do anything, and then he took over the polish corridor (a route to the sea) and that's when we all stepped in. And the rest of the world followed.
(sorry WW1 is a little sketchy, I can't really remember studying that one too well)

Answer 3

Thats a big question to ask.

The 1st world war was caused by a variety of reasons, but the one that sparked off the war was the assasination of Franz Ferdinand, the archduke of Austro-Hungary. You can read all about this at http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/FWWarchduke.htm

For the second world war, it was Hitler's invasion of Poland which sparked the British declaration of war against Germany on 3rd September. Britain had made a promise to help Poland if Hitler's army attacked it and so, when he invaded the land, this sparked the beginning of world war two.

Obviously there is a LOT more to both of these answers, but in short, that's what really began both the wars. Hope that helped.

Answer 4

Why did you put this under football?

Anyway, Germany was a relatively new country, being formed in the 19C by several smaller countries. Germany had treaties of mutual protection with several other countries.

France, GB, Russia and Italy had a similar treaty. The trigger for war was the assasination of Franse Ferdinand. Russia attacked Germany.

The Germans had planned for this. Rather than fighting on two fronts, they reasoned that by attacking and taking France out of the equation, while the Russians were still lumbering accross the continent, they would be able to turn all of their forces on the Russians once they turned up.

The Germans miss managed their plan which left to a long, drawn out war on two fronts.

Following the German defeat, they were forced to sign a very unfavourable treaty. It was this that allowed Hitler so much backing to get into power. Once in office he set about ripping up this treaty and settling an old score. It could be argued that the 2nd WW was mearly a continueation of the first, with a long truce in between.

P.S. Do your own homework as this potted version will only give you an E.

Answer 5

The first world war as the result of a struggle for imperial power by the colonial nations of Europe. It was all about who owned what other foreign territories and broke out in full war with the assassination or the arch duke of the austro-hungarian empire. The us only joined this war when the passenger ship Lusitania was sunk by a German submarine with us passengers on board.

The second world war was a continuation of the first world war brought about by the rise of the national socialists under Adolph Hitler. Germany was sacked after the first world war an had a lingering grudge over their treatment. Hitler fed on this angst. The other nations of the world were too tired of war to engage Germany early to stop the invasion of Poland , Holland, France, etc.

Answer 6

First World War started as a result of the assassination of the Arch Duke Ferdinand by a Serb. Second World War started as a result of Germany invading Poland.

Answer 7

In one word, Germany. basically germany did so many things wrong, im not as sure about WWI but WWII was the invasion of Poland by Adolf Hitler becasue Britain gave Hitler an Ultimatum, don't invade Poland or we will go to war. Britain had said this before and did not keep the promise so Hitler jst invaded Poland thinkin the Brits would do nothing but we went to war so that is the cause of WWII but for full info check out the links

Answer 8

Germany wanting to be the all powerfull nation, but hey, that was a long time ago, now they just want the beach beds :¬)>

But the first world war was started by the Austrian-Hungarians coalition after some dude got assassinated.

Answer 9

World War I was triggered by the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. This gave the Austro-Hungarian empire an exuse to attack Serbia.

Russia then backed Serbia. Germany backed Austro-Hungary.

France backed Russia.

Britian backed France.

And so on.

The break point was the German invasion of neutral Belgium. Belgium appealed to Britian, Britian responded, and this triggered declarations of war between Britian and Austro-Hungary.

With Britian came assistance from Australia, Canada, India, New Zealand and the Union of South Africa.

Japan sided with Britain.

Italy stayed neutral until 1915, when she joined the Allies.

The US stayed neutral until german subs threatened US ships, in 1917.

See http://www.firstworldwar.com/origins/causes.htm for more detail.

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In some respects, WWII was the inevitable continuation of WWI.

Germany, in particular, felt it had been treated poorly in the Treaty of Versailles. It began to rebuild itself, and then, without provocation, attacked Poland (which it felt it had territorial rights to). This began a smiliar chain of events, with countries choosing p sides, but in a greatly different fashion than WWI.

Answer 10

WW1- assination of Archeduke Ferdinand of the Austo-Hungarian Empire, by a group called the Black Hand.

WW2- Hitler and his war machine, annex Austria, and shortly after invade Poland.