World War I may have been called "the war to end all wars," but World War II was even more devastating in its scope and deadliness. Here's why the Second World War was so much worse.
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00:00World War I may have been called the war to end all wars, but World War II was even more
00:05devastating in its scope and deadlines.
00:08Here's why the Second World War was so much worse.
00:11World War I was the first war to ever have something like a truly global scale.
00:15It was fought in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia, leading to the loss of millions
00:20of lives.
00:21While World War I was bad, World War II eventually became the deadliest conflict in history.
00:26The bombings of cities killed thousands within minutes, and the political and economic consequences
00:30of the war continued for decades.
00:32By the time World War II ended, it had forever changed the nature of war.
00:37World War I was largely a trench war.
00:39This means infantry often picked a spot, set up artillery and machine guns, and dug trenches
00:43to protect their soldiers.
00:45The enemy did the same on the other side.
00:47In between the two, there was usually a large wasteland, an open area soldiers had to cross
00:51to launch an attack on enemy lines.
00:54Some of the biggest battles of World War I were fought this way.
00:56While tanks and early airplanes were also in use, they weren't the core of the fighting.
01:01By the time World War II started, artillery and machine guns were far more powerful and
01:05deadly.
01:06Airplanes, tanks, and submarines also played a big part in the conflict.
01:09The Germans used the world's first jet-powered fighter aircraft and an anti-aircraft artillery
01:14gun known as the Flak 88.
01:17The 88 could destroy a target up to 200 yards away.
01:20During Operation Battle Axe alone, it destroyed 90 British tanks and killed nearly 1,000 men.
01:25But the biggest difference between the two wars was nuclear weaponry, which was utilized
01:29toward the end of World War II.
01:31In the end, it was the United States that would drop the only two atomic bombs ever
01:35used in war.
01:37Then of course, there was Hitler, the worst thing to come out of World War II.
01:41I think of all the tyrants in history, you have to put Adolf Hitler right at the top.
01:47While World War I caused immense destruction and death, World War II brought the world
01:51the Nazis and one of the most widespread acts of genocide in history.
01:55Ironically, Adolf Hitler served in the Bavarian Army during World War I.
02:00Not only volunteered, but he was highly decorated for his service.
02:03Hitler's time in the military helped shape his latter political career and served as
02:06inspiration for what he thought the future of Germany should look like.
02:10Hitler is best known for his deliberate planning of the Final Solution, the organized persecution
02:15killing of millions of people during World War II.
02:18In addition to murdering 6 million Jews, Nazi Germany's racial policies led to the deaths
02:22of 5 million others, including Roma, homosexuals, Soviet prisoners of war, and Jehovah's Witnesses,
02:29many of whom perished in the concentration camps.
02:32Under Hitler's watch, Nazi Germany embarked on a campaign to cleanse the country, authorizing
02:36doctors and geneticists to carry out all kinds of horrifying experiments and mass sterilization
02:41programs.
02:42Joseph Mengele, the chief doctor at Auschwitz-Birkenau, was involved in more than 70 medical research
02:47projects between 1939 and 1945.
02:50Many included children.
02:52By the time World War I ended, it had become the bloodiest war in the history of the world.
02:56The deadliest day of the war resulted in over 57,000 British soldiers losing their lives
03:01during the Battle of Besan.
03:03In total, there were 8.5 million military casualties and potentially 14 million civilian
03:08deaths by the end of the war.
03:10An additional 21 million were wounded, and 7.7 million ended up as prisoners of war or
03:15missing.
03:16The casualties in World War II were much higher.
03:19Over 15 million died in battle, and 25 million were wounded.
03:23Additionally, World War II resulted in over 45 million civilian deaths.
03:28The two nuclear bombs detonated over Hiroshima and Nagasaki killed over 200,000 people, of
03:34which more than half died instantly as the bombs exploded and leveled parts of the city.
03:39There's no exact number regarding the many who died over the following months from radiation
03:43exposure.
03:44The aftermath of World War II was also unquestionably catastrophic.
03:49Britain was in major debt, Soviet Union was dealing with widespread starvation, and Japan
03:54spent decades rebuilding the destruction caused by atomic fallout.
03:58Much of Europe had been occupied by the end of the war, and many cities had been reduced
04:01to ash and rubble.