World War 1 began in July 1914 and ended in November 1918. This war began in Europe and later spread to the rest of the world. The key players in the war were from the European nations. They included two camps. The triple alliance included Austria-Hungary, Italy, and Germany with the opponents, the triple entente, including Russia, France, and Britain (Sanders et al., 2006). The war began because of an assassination of an Austro-Hungarian citizen (Sanders et al., 2006). A Serbian activist assassinated Franz Ferdinand. Hungary then asked Germany for support to attack Serbia and then Russia decided to attack Germany in return.
The war became a global affair stemming from Europe. The global affair began with Germany entering Belgium to get through to attack France. Later Britain troops attacked Germany and the cycle persisted until greater Europe was at war, and with the public supporting it. The responsibility of European colonies during the war was to provide weapons, foodstuffs and soldiers. The allied group won the war fronted by Australian-Canadian. The peace terms were fair with Germany agreeing to pay large sums of money for rebuilding and awarding territories to the victors.
Fascism began in Italy with Benito Mussolini as the leader. This system of government was authoritarian and the leader was a dictator in the country. The movement believed in militarism, nationalism, and totalitarianism. The movement created a feeling of fear in the society because of the political and economic pressures. Communism is associated with Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels in the Russian Community (Bentleyet al., 2008). This movement believed that people had the freedom to do anything and the government would not exploit anyone. The society in Russia believed that with freedom and a classless community, they would live in harmony hence, they were happy with the movement. Nazism began in Germany with Adolf Hitler. This movement believed in racism where it valued a particular race in the country. The society was happy because Hitler promised good life. Italy, Norway, Great Britain, Belgium and France embraced fascism. Russia and Germany embraced communism and Nazism respectively. Collectively these movements changed the systems of government in the world.
The attack on the Pearl Harbor in early 1941 by Japanese troops led to the commencement of the World War II in the United States. The main players that participated in this attack were the Japanese and the United Sates. The Japanese military leaders aimed at making neutral the U.S. Pacific warships and protecting their entrance into Malaya and the Netherlands East Indies (Smith, 1999). Through the attack, it would be possible to access natural resources such as rubber and oil from those countries. The attack on Pearl Harbor initiated the World War II. It was an intense shock to the Americans calling for an immediate plan to attack Japan. Germany and Italy then plotted a plan to attack the United States on learning about the attack on Pearl Harbor. These attacks were the beginning of the World War II. The attack on Pearl Harbor affected the Japanese American citizens living in the U.S. Few hours after the attack, these residents relocated to internment camps and their leaders were in high security camps.
The Korean War was part of the Cold War, which began in June 1950 to July 1953 after the end of World War II. The war began when Korea split into the North and South, the two sides becoming rival governments (Kaufman, 1986). The relations between these two states became tense and finally North Korea forces attacked the South. The first few weeks of the war enabled North Korea to attack without any resistance hence, they were able to advance quickly to the South. However, the UN forces intervened in South Korea causing a major blow to the Northern troops.
The Korean War heightened the tension of the Cold War because it involved major countries of the world. The decision of the UN to interfere in the War at the South was because of the tense atmosphere featuring politics of the Cold War. The Warinstigated a realconfrontation to the Cold War. It set the basis for conflicts that followed in the Cold War. The war ended because was confined to the Korean peninsula. In addition, the UN forces did not want to make the war bigger by invading China.
References
Bentley, J., Ziegler, H., & Streets, H. (2008).Traditions & encounters: A brief global history
(3rd ed.). New York: McGraw Hill.
Kaufman, B.I. (1986).The Korean War: Challenges in Crisis, Credibility, and Command.
Washington: Temple University Press.
Sanders, T., Nelson, S., Morillo, S., & Ellenberger, N. (2006). Encounters in world history: Sources and themes from the global post volume one: to 1500 (1st ed.). New York: McGraw Hill.
Smith, C. (1999).Pearl Harbor 1941: The Day of Infamy.Osprey Military.
