How did the Industrial Revolution lead to World War I & II?

Answer 1

I believe that the industrial revolution did not lead to the two world wars in the slightest. I have my own theory and that is that humans fight over power, always have, always will. In all centuries prior to the twentieth century, power meant land. So humans fought over land. But with the coming of the industrial revolution, power has shifted from land to industry. Those with the most industry are currently the most powerful, and the same was likely to have been true in 1914 and 1938. However, the stupid polititians and generals were still fighting over land, the idiots. The two world wars proved to everyone how meaningless it is to fight over land in the modern industrial world.
The next shift, that is coming in this century, if not already here, will be resources, especially energy. Humans will shift to fighting over resources. Then finally, maybe in the 22nd century, humans will fight over knowledge, as the only remaining power commodity to fight over.
But as I said earlier, humans fight over power. Always have, always will. I hope this helps.

Answer 2

It didn't. I think you can make a fair argument that it provided the means for fighting the wars in the way that they were, but it is a weak argument to suggest this "lead" to the wars. What do you mean by "lead?" Is this suggesting somehow that these wars would never have happened if we had not developed factories and advanced our technology? I greatly doubt this. Did this cause nationalism? No. Did this cause imperialism? No. Did this cause fascism? No. All these things, amongst many others (you could write a hundred books on this subject), caused the World Wars, and could have occurred independently of an Industrial Revolution.

Fact is that history is not as teleological as we would like to think. If you fall and break your ankle, it could change your life in ways you will never know. Does that mean that breaking your ankle "leads" to everything that happens in your lifetime? I think not. Anything can be a factor. That does not make it a cause.

Answer 3

I didn't know that it did.

Well, perhaps it enabled humans to fight on a greater scale and be more destructive.

Edit**

actually, the argument that it led to World Wars I and II can be made, because there was a competitive thing going on between England, France and Germany, and also the USA.

In the late 1800's, Germany and the US overtook England as the leading industrial nation and established themselves as industrial powerhouses. This led Germany, in particularly, to seek its place as a world power, which led to its militarization. That later triggered the aggressions between all those industrial nations. Germany wasn't the only aggressor though, as it is often portrayed to have been. All the nations involved were aggressors.

Answer 4

Well, isnt much of history connected?