WWI and WWII..?

Hey, samoanjoes here from Canada. Long time user and many time poster.

I don't recall a time where they taught us that 1914-1945 was one long era. Especially since the start of both wars were for completely different reasons.

I wasn't taught anything about any wars while I was at school.

I vaguely remember being taught a bit about the inter-war years at school in the UK. I also read quite a bit and the view was two separate wars with the Treaty of Versailles + The Great Depression laying the foundations for the rise of Nazism.
I always thought it was interesting that a lot of the blame was also attributed to the Proportional Representation of the Wiemar Republic. The political parties that form the governments over here are always dead set against PR (except when they can't seem to win by the first past the post system).

I read somewhere that one of the motivating factors for WW1 was Germany's ambition to challenge the English position as top dog. That's why the Germans were ramping up their military spending and capabilities. The Germans wanted a bigger slice of the pie in other words and the English were determined to defend their turf. The assassination of Archduke Ferdinand and his wife was just a pretext to go to war.

After losing WW1 and being "humiliated" I guess it was forseeable that the Germans would have another go at it.

Both wars were bloody and ridiculous when what they should have been doing instead of tearing Europe apart and bankrupting themselves was forming an alliance to defeat the Communists in Russia and later on in China.

these wars are very separate from a canadian perspective. i thought only the nazis considered these wars as one struggle.

In Australia WW1 is all about the failed Gallipoli campaign. On my own I learned that prior to WW1 Europe had the idea if they all had huge armies and strong alliances that no one would dare attack each other.

Then an Austrian Duke was assassinated by a Serbian and all he'll breaks loose.

WW2 is barely covered at all unless it some mention of Australian POW's being treated quite poorly by the Japanese.

School was so long ago that I can't remember for sure, but I assume they were presented as two separate wars. It wasn't until an episode of Doc Martin (series 2, ep 1, Old Dogs) when Martin was testing a patient's cognition after an illness. He asked her when WWII started, and she replied 1914, Treaty of Versailles.

I suspect many Americans think WWII started on Dec. 7, 1941. 🙄

It's all the same warmongering barbarism ... rich old men regimenting and controlling young men through social conditioning to go off to war to keep their populations down and prevent them from demanding political rights. Basically breeding a different class of citizen to be workers, soldiers, and having mechanisms in place to keep them that way that they cannot perceive and do not expect in the context of their view of the universe. Patriotism and Religion, the Bible and the Flag.