PART C ESSAY
Melissa Roxburgh
World War One taught Europe that a full-scale war was not improbable. Through imperialism, ideological differences, and failures of compliance, nations began to show each other that a war was inevitable unless they all came to terms with each other. The latter was highly unlikely. Therefore by 1939, not only Europe, but also other parts of the world were beginning to see the initial stages of the second complete world war. In fact, learning from the previous war of 1914-1918, many of the nations reached new levels of mobilization through new legislation and active plans for war on a multicontinental scale. Therefore it can be said that World War Two could be said to be a total war militarily, socially, and geographically.
World War Two can be described as a total war militaristically in the fact that it was fought not only on land but also on water and in the sky. One thing that was the same was aircraft carriers, fighters, bombers, and ground support. However, this was also much more advanced. Aircrafts were able to quickly move supplies and personnel. Bombers were used was used for mass bombing on targeted civilian areas. Many nations did this in hopes that the industries of their enemies would be destroyed, hampering their productions. At sea aircraft carriers were also used. One example would be Pearl Harbor where Japanese fighters flew in and began bombing America’s naval base there. Escort carriers, planes that were small yet more abundant, were used in convoys to aid protection. Submarines were carried through from World War One as well, although the allies focused on anti-submarine weaponry since they were in defensive mode for a majority of the war. Finally, on land , advances became more efficient as well. Instead of trench warfare, the new concept was combined arms warfare where the tank had evolved into a primary weapon and had become considerably more advanced. Not only were tanks reinforced, but blitzkrieg, used by the Germans, proved to be a primary tactic. Germany used this method in many of her wars, including Austria and Poland. Weaponry such as anti-tank guns, land mines, bombs, and different types of tanks were used. The new weapon for World War Two was used first by the United States and was called a semi-automatic rifle. Ciphering can also be considered land warfare. This was a progression in itself, and encompassed a non-physical aspect of war. The Allies mastered this more effectively than her enemies.
