World Wars & Spanish Civil War: Causes, Events, and Consequences

Universal History

World War I

Causes:

• Imperialist conflicts among European powers
• The confrontation of blocs of countries, united in an alliance system
• The arms race, namely the manufacture and purchase of war material and organization of armies
• Morocco Tensions between Germany and France
• The intentions of the French to recover regions of Lorraine and Alsace.
• The crisis in the Balkans with the confrontation between Russian and Austro-Hungarian empires

The outbreak of war

On June 28, 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the throne, was assassinated in the city of Sarajevo (Bosnia).

Austria took responsibility for the attack and declared war on Serbia in July.

Russia, which wanted to end the Austro-Hungarian supremacy in the Balkan Peninsula, supported Serbia and declared war on the empire. This led to Germany doing the same with Russia and France.

Britain entered the conflict when the Germans invaded Belgium.

While Italy initially remained separate, it later joined the other side, along with Japan, Romania, Greece, and Portugal.

Consequences:

• Reduction of the population; more than 12 million people died.
• Changes in territoriality: Turkey declined, the Austro-Hungarian Empire disappeared and gave rise to four states: Austria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Yugoslavia. Germany lost its colonial empire.
• End of European supremacy; strengthening of the U.S. and Japan.
• Destruction of media, transportation, farmland, and buildings.
• Economic crisis: declining industrial production and agriculture, gold reserves, and investments.

The Spanish Civil War

In 1931, the constitution of the Second Spanish Republic was approved. In elections the following years, none of the political parties won a majority of votes.

This provoked the division of people into two parts: the left, who supported the republican regime and aimed at social reform, and the right, a supporter of the monarchy and defender of the privileges of the wealthy.

The onset of civil war

The 1936 elections gave the victory to the popular front – left-wing forces – after five years of social and political instability. From that moment, events rushed towards the civil war between groups of the left and right.

World War II

The beginning of the war

The disagreement with the results of the First World War and rising political tensions in Europe prompted, once again, the formation of military blocs and alliances.

End of war:

In 1944, the Soviet army advanced on all fronts and forced Finland, Romania, and Bulgaria to sign peace treaties.

Consequences:

• There was genocide: Most victims were Jews.
• Europe’s major cities were ruined by bombs; millions of hectares of farmland were destroyed.
• Railways, ports, bridges, factories, and roads were turned into piles of junk and debris.
• Europe lost world supremacy and was divided into two areas of influence: the American and Soviet.
• The colonial empires began to disintegrate, amending the European political map.
• The deadliest weapons of the time were premiered.

The organization of peace:

In 1945, the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union met at Potsdam to make peace agreements.