Before WWl and Before WWll , Is There Any Evidence That We Knew Beforehand That It Would Be A World War ?

Question

I don't know the history on this one . I'm curious because it's quite possible that we are about to witness WWlll. . . . and we know it Beforehand. . . . . that is , if we're right .

Any good history majors out there who can help ?

Answer 1

The US got involved rather late in WWI, and it was clear at that time that that the war was a Great War, (meaning large). Same thing for World War II, which the US did not enter until about 3 years after the hostilities began.

Did the other participants know early on that either war would be called a "world war"? No, but there was great regional instability preceding both of the wars.

Answer 2

In retrospect it is easy to say yes (hindsight is always 20-20). The biggest single cause of WWI was "blank check" treaties, promises to join in any conflict that an ally became involved in regardless of how silly. Any reasonable person can see that this will inevitably draw everyone into war (especially in a volatile place like per-21st Century Europe, which almost always had some type of war going on. People weren't worried because they thought all the new weapons would result into very short wars.

As for WWII, yes they saw it coming. In fact, Chamberlain*, the English PM, knew that Hitler was going to be a problem, so he tried to appease him. Appeasement doesn't work with bullies. As for the U.S. and Japan, there is evidence that Roosevelt knew Pearl Harbor was going to be attacked the day before. And even more interesting is several years early, a U.S. General predicted the exact plan (carrier based air attack, down to the place, day of the week, time of day and that the Philippines would be attacked as well). He was court martialed (Billy Mitchell) for this and other infractions that all turned out to be very predictive of the future.

As for WWIII, soem say it already happened (The Cold War) and that the war the U.S. is involved in at the moment is actually a proxy war with Iran.

*(Arthur Neville Chamberlain, known as Neville Chamberlain (18 March 1869 – 9 November 1940), was a British Conservative politician and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1937 to 1940.

Chamberlain's legacy is marked by his policy regarding the appeasement of Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany regarding the concession of Czechoslovakia to Hitler, marked by the Munich Agreement in 1938.)

Answer 3

WW1 was actually call the Great War. It was only call WW1 after WW2 started. It was fought almost all in the European theater.

War has and is still evolving from one form to another. I don't think we will see a war like WW2 ever again. Technology has mad the battlefield much small as we are able to attack targets from further distances.

Countries now have interwoven so many thing between other countries that war would disrupt everything in that country. Unless the world has a common enemy AND the willingness to go after that enemy will we ever see war on a scale like WW2.

It will be region size conflicts now, not global. That's why the American military is refitting the branches of service for this role.

Answer 4

WWI and II yes.

For many years under the Turks in I they had ruled the Christian lands and enslaved many this is why under Ferdinand this happened. And this had been going on since before the times of Dragul or today the Dracula of fame. The impaler. And the rape and genocide of the Armenians. Which was the training ground of the Nazi's and Muslims today. Other signs were on the walls as well.

WWII was also showing the signs and FDR hoped that Hitler and Stalin would kill each other off and yes Libs he did not care about the Jews as well.

Answer 5

Hitler made clear in Mein Kampf that if he gained power he intended to invade eastern Europe in order to provide Lebensraum for the German people and basically take control of land away from the “inferior” Slavic people. Some individuals recognized the threat that his Nazi regime presented to Europe.

Britain and France had allied themselves with Poland and vowed to protect the country. When Hitler invaded Poland, Britain and France declared war on Germany and WW II started. The Nazi aggression against eastern Europe could have been predicted, and to some extent, apparently was.

That Germany would have allied itself with Japan, another aggressive and imperialistic nation, could also have been predicted.

Answer 6

WWI - No it start with an assassination and all the treaties force nations into escalate to a full war.

WWII - Yes there was warning but everybody except Germany was too burn out from what WWI did to them. The French build up their defense and figure that was enough.
When Hitler came to power people didn't have the stomach so the word was appeasement.

Answer 7

OK, since the major players of the concert of Europe had empires spanning the globe, of course it would be expected to be a world war in 1914.
The Axis powers were virtually unopposed until 1939 and they spanned the globe. I don't think there is any mystery there. The British and French were way too timid. They needed a guy like President Bush.
Russia and especially China are in basically the same position the Nazis and the Japs were. Aggression keeps them in check. As long as they know that America won't put up with any crap, they will be good.

Answer 8

After WW1 the allies went nuts and disarmed,forces were cut drastically.
While this went on Germany and Japan armed themselves quietly,producing advanced weapons.
WW2 came as a surprise,only the Axis powers's hesitation saved the Allies. If they had attacked aggressively and invaded England and the US,they might have won.
The Allies were completely unprepared and nearly defeated early.

Answer 9

Here is a blog from CNN - this guy said he had seen an article from 1939 about the looming war. He does not say the article called it a world war, but I remembered his blog from way back when I read your question.

http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/commentary/newsblogs/jerusalemdateline/061019.aspx

If I remember right, though, we were very late in jumping to the cause.

Answer 10

Since we got into both wars late, I think we knew the world status of each especially WWII since we had to fight that on multiple fronts with our troops - Pacific against Japan and throughout Europe and North Africa with Germany/Italy