Wars of the World, Chapter Review from the Book: Introduction to Global Politics

Chapter Review "The World Wars" from the Part 1 of the Book: Introduction to World Politics

 By

 Richard W. Mansbach and Kirsten L. Rafferty

The book is contributing a truly global approach to International Relations and Political Science, Introduction to Global Politics, Brief Edition, brings together an expert team of international scholars to provide students with a current, engaging, and non-U.S. point of view on global politics.

Introduction to Global Politics is a major new textbook which introduces students to the key changes in current global politics in order to help them make sense of major trends that are shaping our world. The emphasis on change in global politics helps students recognize that truly new developments require citizens to change their beliefs and that new problems may appear even as old ones disappear. This text is designed to encourage students to think ahead in new, open-minded ways, even as they come to understand the historical roots of the present. the book has been comprise of six parts in which various phases of world politics has been discussed profoundly along with their theories and approaches.

This part of the book tells the story of how states first emerged in Europe and formed an interstate system that came to dominate global affairs. It describes the birth and evolution of the territorial state, and discusses how these political leviathans were transformed from the personal property of kings into communities owned by their citizens. It describes the rise of nationalism, especially during and after the French Revolution, and how state and nation became linked in communities that attracted the passions and highest loyalties of citizens who were willing to die in their name.

After describing the emergence and evolution of the state in Europe, the author has examined the evolution of two international systems that did not feature territorial states – imperial China and medieval Islam.

This chapter focuses on the world wars: World War I (1914–18), then called the Great War,

the events of the war, and its consequences, including World War II (1939–45). Studying these wars will allow us to step back and see in action many of the issues of war and peace that the author has discussed in later chapters, including the relationship between politics and war. Analyzing the causes of the world wars also demonstrates efforts to build theory and explain war by reference to levels of analysis.

These events are important in another respect as well: which began the modern era of global politics, including many of the problems that the world face today. The chapter opens by examining the events leading up to World War I, particularly those that so boosted fear and hostility in Europe that war seemed unavoidable. The chapter then analyzes the many sources of the war according to their levels of analysis and considers how political scientists have used this case to generalize about war. It then describes how World War I permanently altered global politics and leaded in the modern world. It reviews the sequence of events during what has been called the “twenty years’ crisis” following World War I that led to the next world war: the harsh treatment of Germany in the Versailles Treaty, the failure of the League of Nations, and the policy of appeasement practiced by the West in the series of crises in the 1930s. The chapter closes by assessing the sources of World War II Untangling the causes of World War II allows political scientists to generalize further about war and to identify the similarities it may have with other wars. In a section of this chapter, the author has reviewed some of the causes  of World War II by  various levels of analysis. An individual-level explanation for World War II might focus on Hitler’s ambitions and his racist ideology. An alternative explanation, at the state level of analysis, is that significant challenges within European states contributed to the outbreak of World War II. For instance, economic collapse led to the rise of the Nazi regime within Germany, driving voters to Hitler. In Great Britain, appeasement was thought a realistic strategy, given scarce economic resources At the global level, explanations for the war focus on the Versailles Treaty system, the balance of power in Europe, the failure of collective security, and the spread of extremist ideologies. This chapter has examined the events leading up to two world wars and has analyzed the sources of war according to their level of analysis. This has seen that both world wars can be attributed to numerous, reinforcing, causes at each level of analysis. Several prominent theoretical explanations exist for each war, but no single explanation is sufficient. At the end of this chapter,  guide lines for students activities  have been set by the author. Moreover, further reading to the related topics have also been suggested in the end.