NATO

The Cold War would be described by the United States as a "good versus evil" conflict. The Cold War was a struggle between two superpowers staring each other down. Although the Cold War for other countries caught in the middle of these two giants was anything but cold. The origins of the Cold War come from the problems of what to do with the defeated countries. There were also actions taken by the U.S. that were directed at the allies, such as not renewing loans, that were seen as being aggressive by the Soviets. The Truman Doctrine of 1947 was a call for countries to resist communist aggression. The soviet Union also seeking a way to not have to deal with the Eastern European countries that were against them in the war. The Eastern European countries became a buffer zone for any possible future attacks against the Soviets. Soviets Russia set up Soviet friendly governments in many Eastern European countries.
A moment of cold aggression happened during the Berlin Crisis of 1948. The Russian blockaded aid coming into Berlin after what the allies violated the Potsdam agreement by combing their Berlin zones. After the aggressive blockade by the Soviets, the western European allies formed the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). The initial strengh in NATO was the fact that the United States was its military muscle. After much debate from the French, Germany entered NATO in 1955. They had to renounce long range bombers, missiles, and atomic weapons. The Soviets saw this as continuing aggression from the western powers. In response they created the Warsaw pact, which mirrored the NATO, but made up of pro-Soviet eastern European countries.
The Cold War continued for decades more, with the U.S. and Russians fighting battles with other countries as their pawns. The U.S. with its anti-communist rhetoric and the Soviets who seems to to honor aggressive tactics. The Cold War may be argued to still be continued with Russia seeming to be taking steps backwards and American conservatism rising.

nationalism

No matter how much advancement the world seems to have gone through there is always some conflict in the world. We have put people on the moon and are now building underwater hotels. Miracles of the human mind. The human mind seems to chained to the idea of conflict for the furthering of ones goal. Each conflict always does have to have a goal to it. Nationalist thought is what sets these goals and helps continue it.
George Orwell, the political writer who lived to long enough to see the end of WWII had his thoughts on nationalism. He defined nationalism in his 1945 essay Notes on Nationalism as "the habit of identifying oneself with a single nation or unit, placing it beyond good and evil and recognizing no other duty than that of advancing its interest". Nationalism is still very much alive today and it still continues to hamper the true possibilities of the human race.
Orwell believed that it was a trait that stunted moral thought on the part of the person who has a nationalist outlook. They would be angry about what Germany would do but at the same time fail to see what atrocity their own country has committed. This type of thought does not allow for a realistic advancement of human progress. How can one progress when they fail to see their own shortcomings?
Nationalism about religion and a fixed way of democracy is the nationalist cause of today. America's advancements in science and politics are overshadowed by many of those in power who believe in our righteousness. The area of the world where civilization began is in turmoil over religious nationalism. In 2007 George Orwell writings continue to be as relevant today and they were in 1945.

Japan

Japan is a country with limited space and limited natural resources. In order to acquire these natural resources, they did as other countries did in the early 20th century. Japan was looking to dominate their Asian neighbors. Under the guise of Asian brotherhood, Japan started to look at China for territory.
History shows that what the Japanese did was wrong. History does not criticize so much what western powers were doing to Japan for so long before Pearl Harbor. Western powers took heavy advantages of Asian countries such as China and Japan. The Japanese could not even get equal racial status recognition at the Paris Peace Conference.
Japan was looking to expand and make 'Asia for Asians". This goes into the same school of thought as Hitler with his German leaving space idea. The Japanese did also see themselves as the superior race in Asia as well. Like Hitler's superior race idea, the Japanese dominance did last long either.
Japan today is an economic but this time it is because their lack of natural resources has made them highly efficient. Their dominance has come more in a peaceful way. A peaceful way that helps those residents of western countries in a more mutual way than those western countries would have done for Japan in the early 19th and 20th century.

Hitler

Hitler, has had perhaps a thousand books written about him. He was a man who sold the idea of the superior race. The superior race that was blond and blued, two things of which he was neither. He was not taken serious in the 1920s because he worked both sides of what his nation and the alliances wanted to hear. He told his country that there was a certain group of people that were to blame for their problems and they advanced him through their democracy. He then told the international world what they wanted to hear and they underestimated him.
Adolf Hitler was affected by his service in WWI, but he thought it was a great thing that he saw. He, like many others else did not believe in the actual defeat of Germany in WWI. He believed it was the weak socialist government in charge at the end of war that was responsible for Germany's turmoil. Although as and artist, he wished to express his thoughts on canvas, but he soon fought out that he was a very persuasive orator. Through his oratory skills he became the leader of a group that he was originally sent to spy on. Through his new Nazi party, Hitler would climb democratically up the ladder, and eventually to rule over Germany.
Once in power, politicians from Germany believed that he would simply fall in line with the rest of the politicians. They believed that his radicalism would end. This also a mistake that the British made. I think that the French were always weary of the Germans no matter who was in power. Hitler would commit atrocities in Germany that coincided with his anti Semitic message. Hitler would then turn to Germany's former opponents and convey messages of peace, while all the time he himself knowing his full intentions of a German empire.
Hitler was a man who had his ideals before the Treaty of Versailles. He was brought to power by democracy, just to end as quickly as he could. He found his niche in oration, only to have his dream of an expanded German homeland crushed by his inability to excel in anything else. Now the fear politics of today recall his future war opponents appeasement strategy when ever possible. Hitler the enigma, was not taken seriously in the 1920s, but he is the subject now of countless scholars wondering, "how?".

The interwar years between WWI & WWII

During the interwar years between WWI & WWII, the world was on its continual revolution. The horrors of the trenches were put into literature and art for the masses to see. With the horrors brought forth by this new type of total war, people looked inwards for their inspiration. Artists, writers, architects, philosophers, psychology, scientists, and theologians all found new inspirations. Each with their interpretation on how to bring humans in-touch with their inner selves.
Literature was greatly impacted by the WWI. There were many writers and poets who participated and were forever changed by it. They wrote about the war in all its anti-glory. The battles inspired poetry, plays, narratives, and novels. Each never failing to bring a full description of the barbarity that "civilization" committed upon itself.
Artists also brought change to the view of the world. What once was a plain view of how to see the world had now been turned into abstract. Many new forms of art were given birth. Such schools as cubists and surrealists were created. Art no longer simply represented the world as a picture would but as what a dream would.
One of the most important figures of this time was Albert Einstein. While others of the time created art to be looked at and literature to make one wonder about one self, Einstein changed the world through science. Science that has brought atomic energy and all the inventions that came with radiation. Electronic devices were invented, such as X- rays and most importantly, at least to me, television.
The interwar years continued the radical change in the world brought on by new ways of thought and also by increases in science. WWI created a feeling to look at ourselves and find understanding. Ultimately it was science that has most influenced the world of today. The globe has become one virtual Pangaea again through globalization. While intellectuals continue to argue about what is man's new role in the ever changing phases of the human world, it is the science of Einstein that brings exciting new possibilities to physical reality.

"Far above the feverish gaze of those on the ground, the bodies buried under the mud of the earthly lower depths and the wasted fields, this whole procession advances from the four corners of the horizon, driving back the infinity of the sky and hiding its blue depths."
Henry Barbusse
Under fire

WWI came during the time of the second Industrial Revolution. This was a time of great advancement in technology. Military needs were being met along with civilian needs during this time of great change. This was not only a time of great change in industry but also one in society. For all the change in lifestyles that occurred during the move from rural to urban, there was one state of mind that did not, it was the idea of war as a tool for national advancement. The totality of WWI and WWII led to the loss of millions of lives. Henry Barbusse wrote about his experience in WWI and this line from his book Under Fire best captures the mass deaths of WWI.
Those who have survived the previous battle, are waking from being buried in the mud from the heavy rain. The constant rain, is one of the factors which Barbusse thinks of as the worst of the conditions of the war. The rain is causing this level of mud because of all of the bullets, bodies, and artillery bombardment that has destroyed the once beautiful countryside.
Then Barbusse describes how the entire field is covered in bodies for as far as the eye can see. For Americans, this brings back memories of The Civil War. Advancements in miliary technology along with outdated military tactics brought terrible destruction in that war too. This war in Europe, brought unprecedented death to that region.
Unfortunately WWI was not the end of such mass destructive warfare. WWII would again plunge the world into total war and create fields of death again. Again there would be people writing about their experiences in this brutal time. It is up to people who have experienced these horrors first hand to write about them or to take an active role in their democracies. This is important, so those who have not experienced this can unleash the destructive force of war as a last resort.

I believe that there is more contrast between WWI and Iraq than similarities. I myself think that the Vietnam-Iraq comparison is a stronger one. The biggest similarity that I can see right away in the WWI- Iraq comparison is that they both had their explosion with a terrorist act. One last important comparison is that both were avoidable. From there, there are far too many differences.
The first difference is that America did not even want to get into WWI. America had an isolationist mentality. The war in Europe was a old style European conflict that the U.S. did not wish to enter in. It was only after Germany continued their unrestricted warfare did the United States enter WWI. Others had their conspiracy theory that the war profiteers wanted to enter WWI though. The Bush administration, in my belief, always had every intention of attacking Iraq for what ever reason they have made up now. Unlike WWI, the United States was the aggressor here.
The WWI comparison also fails because after the war, Europe wanted to make Germany suffer. This was especially true in the case of France, who had always been a main target for German aggression. The United States was the aggressor in the Iraq war and now it is trying to rebuild Iraq with BILLIONS in aid.
Wilson did also have his idea of his 14 points. His point that was stressed the most in the Paris peace conference was his idea of self determination. His idea of self determination did not apparently apply to Vietnam or the Middle East. These areas were quickly divided up between France and Britain, thus continuing on their pre-WWI imperialism.
As this current administration is finding out, democracy is something that cannot be forced upon people, especially with bombs and guns. Democracy is something that has to be a peoples choice and it has to be universal. The U.S. was not the perfect example of universal suffrage in the WWI era. The differences in these conflicts are too vast.