COMPARISON BETWEEN WORLD WAR 1(WW I) AND WORLD WAR 2(WW II) reasons Research Paper

COMPARISON BETWEEN WORLD WAR 1(WW I) AND WORLD WAR 2(WW II) reasons - Research Paper Example The death of Ferdinand led Austria-Hungary to wage a war against Serbia (Hamilton, 2004). The mutual defense agreement, among countries in Europe, compelled allied nations to fight side-by-side despite not being part of the conflict. Austria-Hungary was supported by their allied nations--Italy and Germany (The triple Entente); while Russia was supported by France and Great Britain (The Triple Alliance) (Hamilton, 2004). Although the immediate cause of war was the assassination of the archduke, spiraling of the war out of control was contributed by other factors that were political in origin; and rooted in greed for power. Before the explosion of World War I, tension among Europe’s superpowers were increasing as they competed amongst themselves â€Å"...for trade and military power overseas†, which is true for Britain, France, and Germany; and for acquisition of the Balkan countries of southeastern Europe, as was true for Russia and Austria-Hungary (Hamilton, 2004, p. 8) . The increasing popularity of imperialism; the rise of nationalism; as well as the extensive armed forces and advanced military technology, urged the war to last for four years, until its culmination in 1918, when the Germans failed to conquer the Allied forces. World War II began in Europe when Germany invaded Poland in 1939.