Shanbrom, Jacob

P.1
APUSH
WWI and WWII Differences:

Despite our exhausting attempts to stay neutral, the U.S. found itself caught in the middle of the

two greatest wars ever fought by mankind. In WWI the U.S. was not as powerful as we were in WWII.

In both wars Germany was a common ally and we fought alongside the allies in hopes to win and stop

German expansion.

The two wars were very similar in the ways that we raised money, and the way that we raised

American morale. The methods that we used were; rationing and propaganda, and war bonds.

Propaganda was used to raise American morale by getting us excited for the war. The most popular

example of propaganda is probably Uncle Sam, he was used to motivate, his famous quote “We Want

You!” Rationing was used to make sure that we had enough food that would last us throughout the

wars. The forms used for rationing were as important as money, if you counterfeited the paper saying

what you could buy, it was as bad as counterfeiting American currency. War bonds are probably the

most common and most effective way that we raised money. War bonds and rationing are the most

effective ways to raise money for war through the support of the general public.

The major differences between the wars varied from technological and psychological factors.

The technological examples are weapons, fighting methods, and mobility. In WWI the new weapons

introduced to warfare was the use of planes and poisoned gasses. The planes they used were primitive

and not very effective, just like the gasses used. The fighting techniques in WWII were through the use

of airplane bombers and fighting out in the open. In WWI we used mainly trench-warfare which is

were soldiers would spend weeks, if not years, sitting in rain and bug infested trenches. The new

weapons that we developed in WWII varied greatly from the primitive weapons we used in WWI. The

weapons that we created were Tanks and we improved our airplanes to carry bombs which we then

dropped on our enemies.

 The other key differences between the two wars were the reasons that we entered them. The

United States was neutral during most of WWI but we finally joined because of the Zimmerman note

and the sinking of the Lusitania. We joined WWII because of the attack on Pearl Harbor and the fear of

German expansion. The German expansion threatened the U.S. because we thought Germany was

going to become too powerful for us to stop.

In the end there are more differences than there are similarities. The key differences were the

reasons we entered the wars, the weapons we used, and our methods of fighting. The main similarities

were the fact that we had Germany as a common enemy in both wars, and the fact that most of the

fighting was done in Europe.