Total Wars: The First and Second world wars in the first half of the 20th century were different from all the other wars that had been fought before in the history. First and Second world war was a full-scale of wars. Both wars were very dangerous, and both sides had to do everything they could to win.
Effect on every part of the public life. A huge number of people were hurt or killed. People didn’t fight with each other, but their ideas did. Some countries, like Germany, Italy, and Japan, believed that white people were better than black people, while the others believed in either democracy or communism. After the war was over, there was a race to be the boss of the world. The old British empire was weaker after it broke up. Now, both the USA and the USSR wanted to be the Super Power of the world.
What this means for society in Total Wars:?
The duration of World War I was four years, and World War II was six years. Wars that were terrible, cruel, and harmful ended an era. After the French Revolution, people started to care more about their country and freedom, but now people had moved past those ideas. Rather than nationalism, there were new ideas that wanted to change how society worked. The growth of trade and science sparked a new awareness among the people.
The following changes happened in society because of these wars:
1. Efforts to Solve the Problem of Minorities:
There are numerous reasons why the rights of minorities were violated in the majority of the globe. Protection of the rights of minorities who resided permanently in Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria, and Turkey, as well as Poland and Czechoslovakia, was a necessity at the Paris Peace Conference (PPC). The Paris Peace Conference compelled Poland and Czechoslovakia to pledge to safeguard the language, culture, and religion of the minorities who had established permanent residences in their respective countries.
However, these countries, along with Romania, Greece, Yugoslavia, and Turkey, were against it because they thought it violated their sovereignty and would break up their states. They wanted to include the races in society as a whole. But the United States and Great Britain did not agree, so the League of Nations was finally asked to handle the situation. The problem still exists, which is a shame.
2. Changes in Women’s Status:
The one million of men quit their jobs to join the military, and women filled their places in mills, factories, shops, offices, and other businesses. They also worked as a nurses on the military hospitals including in battlefield. So, they went into business and showed that they knew how to work hard.
Right To Vote
This made them feel better about themselves and more aware of how important they are in society. They wanted the right to vote. Russia gave women over 30 the right to vote in 1917. The same thing took place in Britain in 1918 and Germany in 1920.
This made them feel better about themselves and more aware of how important they are in society. They wanted the right to vote. Russia gave women over 30 the right to vote in 1917. The same thing took place in Britain in 1918 and Germany in 1920.
In this way, the war completely changed the position of women. The number of working women grew quickly, but it hurt their relationships with family and friends.
3. Equal Rights for All Races:
By the end of the 1800s, Europeans thought their race and colour made them better than black, brown, and yellow people from Asia and Africa. But when troops from India, Japan, and Africa fought in Europe during the war, they were just as brave as white soldiers. This put an end to the idea that European races were better than other races, and it led to more internationalism, peace, and wealth around the world.
4. The illusion of religious supremacy
Many people’s senses and sensibilities were hurt by the First World War. This is called “the illusion of religious supremacy.” Instead of helping the oppressed, the church became too loyal to the state and started to defend what their government was doing. People in that country were told that their most important religious task was to support their It was an insult to God and Christianity. People already didn’t believe in Christianity because of how far science had come. People now lean more towards agnosticism and not believing in God.
5. Big Steps Forward in Science:
The First World War changed people’s way of life. A lot of people had never been in a car or seen an aeroplane before 1914. They didn’t know much about a number of electric gadgets. They lit their homes with paraffin and cooked their food over coal and wood. A significant number of people did not complete high school. Before the 20th century, the life in the east and west were very different from one another.
The importance of science play important role after the World War II. A lot of different countries gave money to scientific study projects. Scientists set up labs and did tests to learn more about medicines, scientific farming, ways to get around and communicate, and natural resources that could be used in other ways.
A lot of progress was made in health and chemistry at the start of this century. People are better able to deal with malaria, typhoid, and para-typhoid, and the number of kids who die has gone down. Atomic power was found and used, which was the most important thing to happen in the 20th century. Moving things and talking to each other better has made space and time smaller.
6. New Techniques in the Fine Arts:
There have been big changes in music, drawing, and other arts. Some of the most important people in music history are Edward McDonal, Richard Strauss, Eager Stravisky, and others. Picasso, Grant Wood, and George Billows are some of the best painters who ever lived. In New York, the Church of Saint John the Divine and in Liverpool, the Church, were both built in that style. The light and air are well placed for them. Walter Gropius from Germany and Frank Lloyd Wright are both well-known builders. They made a lot of useful buildings.
7. Literature:
In the 18th and 19th centuries, writers wrote about the lives of elites and wealthy middle-class people, and when they wrote about the poor, they tried to improve their lives. However, writers in the 20th century wrote about the weird and abnormal things that happened in life and used the slang words of the lower classes. The two most well-known playwrights of this time were George Bernard Shaw and O’Neill. There was a lot of reading of the works of John Galsworthy (Britain), Marcel Proust (France), Thomas Mann (Germany), Sigrid Oundset (Norway), Villa Cather (United States), Rabindranath Tagore (India), and Lin Yutang (China).
8. The Growth of Public Education:
There was a huge rise in the number of schools built after World War I. In Britain, elementary schools were changed, and kids had to go to school until they were 14 years old. In 1925, all French children got a free primary education. By 1933, all French children got a free secondary education as well. Asian countries also built more schools, but ignorance was still very common in India and China while it was quickly going away in Japan. People were taught to follow their leaders in Germany, Italy, and Russia. In America, the number of high schools grew very quickly.
9. Humanistic Philosophy:
After World War II, humanism was the most popular philosophy. Freedom and the well-being of people became the main goals of all political actions. The destruction of World War II was felt everywhere, and people wanted to get rid of their fear of war. During the war, people still talked about human rights, and the UN’s Declaration of Human Rights was a big step in the right direction.