1st World War

The 4 August 2014 marked the 100 year anniversary of the outbreak of the First World War, aka World War
I or The Great War for Civilisation. A hundred years might seem like a very long time ago, but it isn't really.
Your great-great grandparents were around then, and they would have lived through, and maybe even taken
part in, this conflict.

Why did the war start?

Lots of history books have been written on exactly this subject. But it all boils down to the fact that Europe had
split into two large families of countries. The Allies the British Empire, France, Belgium, Russia and later, the
USA were in one family. And the Central Powers of Germany, Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria and Turkey were in
the other. On 4 August 1914, Germany invaded Belgium, and so, standing by its promise to stick up for Belgium,
Britain declared war on Germany. The world was at war...

How long did it last?

When the First World War began that summer, most people thought it would be over by Christmas. Many
believed that Britain was so powerful it could win very quickly. In fact, the First World War lasted four terrible
years, not four months.

2nd World War

World War II (WWII or WW2), also known as the Second World War, was a global war. It
took place between 1939 to 1945. Most of the world's countries, including all of the great
powers, fought as part of two military alliances: the Allies and the Axis. The war was
fought as a "total war", meaning all resources a country had were used in the war, even
those that didn't belong to the army, such as factories. It involved more countries, cost
more money, and killed more people than any other war in human history. Between 50
and 70 million people died. See the fact file below for more information and facts about
World War II.
During the course of the war, German forces advanced through Europe
By the summer of 1941 they had invaded France, Belgium, Holland, Luxembourg,
Denmark, Norway, Greece, Yugoslavia* and the USSR*.
Millions of Germans were imprisoned and killed because they didn't fit the image of the
'perfect' German
Hitler wanted to create what he thought was the 'best' and strongest race - and to the
Nazi Party, this excluded certain groups, such as Jews, Gypsies and those with physical
and mental disabilities. In an attempt to eliminate a 'racial enemy' outside of Germany,
such groups were also persecuted in the countries invaded by German forces.
The group most heavily targeted by the Nazis were the Jews
Around six million Jewish people were killed during World War 2 in one of historys most
terrible events - the Holocaust. Racist in his views, Hitler blamed Jewish people for
Germany losing World War I and claimed they were dangerous to German people and
society.
Around the same time that Germany fought for power in Europe, Japan wanted to control
Asia and the Pacific
In 1937 (before World War II had officially begun) under Emperor Hirohito, Japan attacked
China, bringing the two nations into years of conflict.