World War Three… those three words are terrorizing the hearts of human beings everywhere, more than the three words “I love you.” They say the world is going downhill now-a-days, but did it ever really stop doing that? Research shows that history repeats itself, and scholars hate to admit it be true. That alone raises the major factor of this paper: Which parallels between now, and the events leading into World War Two, will eventually lead our planet into yet another world war?

There are four main factors that led each and every country on this planet to build up armies and aim firearms at not only each other but themselves. These events took place after The Treaty of Versailles, Japanese expansion in the East, the fascist movements, and The Great Depression.

During the Treaty of Versailles, countries involved in World War One had agreed to end the war and bring world peace on condition that Germany would take full blame of the war and pay rather hefty reparations for the damage they caused to its allies and some surrounding countries, let alone fix up their own economy.

That was pretty much impossible, and this contract left Germany in absolute ruins economically. The country was fighting to survive, work, and put food on the table, as well as battling extreme chaos in the government. This moment of utter and direct weakness faced by the German citizens led the way to allow a dictator, Adolf Hitler, to rise to power with false prophecies of fixing the country under his very strict terms. In doing so, Hitler broke his arrangement with the Peace Treaty in multiple ways. The treaty had preached peace and quiet among the nations while they restored themselves after war. Hitler, on the other hand, figured “screw that”, and began rebuilding the German army, seeking more land, and executing Jews in response to his anti-semitism views to “build a better Germany” or whatever was going through his twisted mind.

Today, the same process is happening in the Middle East. Fundamentalist groups like ISIS, the Taliban, and The Muslim Brotherhood are feeding off of the countries’ weaknesses and executing non-muslims everywhere. ISIS has already completely dominated Syria and Iraq, and will probably continue to spread Sharia law anywhere they can. Of course, with President Trump’s recent bombing of Syria, he pissed them off further, and they’ll probably attack the United States next.

Just like in the 1930s, once a country shows weakness, dictators rise to power; and they’re not for the people. They are only for themselves. As seen in history, any time a dictator comes to power the country worsens and suffers, while the leader flourishes in broken promises and no regrets.

Often times, when countries feel threatened and they begin to run low on resources, they may see it fit to invade other nations, to steal their resources, because “it’s better them than us” right? Throughout World War Two, Japan expanded their territory in appeal to the Germans doing the same thing. Germany had invaded Poland, sided with Italy and Russia, and hiked more eastward to continue to expand. With the United States also posing a large threat, Japan grew fearful, and figured the only way they wouldn’t lose the war completely is if they had more resources, more land, more economy, more men for battle and combat, more everything.

That being said, both Germany and Japan aimed to grow their empires by invasion. This process is also evident today in many parts of the world. First, since the last world war, the China-Pakistan vs. India issue rose from flames, literally. India and Pakistan have fought in four wars since 1947, and the dispute about borders is still ongoing today. When India received freedom from Britain, it was divided into two parts: India and Pakistan, respectively. Both sides had a claim over the land of Kashmir. The country’s population was mainly Muslim by this point but ruled by a Hindu king.

Throughout the disputes, the king tried his best to stay neutral and protect both sides of his country, however, due to pressure from both sides, he ended up choosing India. At that, Pakistan attacked Kashmir and India deployed forces to protect “their” land. Later, in 1962, China allied with Pakistan against India, due to yet another border dispute. This friendship threatens India severely, and they merge onto a “Look East” policy, becoming allies with Japan and Vietnam. Today, China has sided with Russia against the United States due to heavy debt. So as of this point in the journey, it’s looking like China, Pakistan, and Russia are one team, versus the United States, India, and Japan as another team. But wait - it gets more twisted.

There is also the Russia-Ukraine issue, which dangerously involves the NATO. Back in November 2013, Ukrainian president Victor Yanukovich rejected a trade deal with the European Union. The people of Ukraine were not pleased with his decision, seeing that this arrangement would really suit their economy. In response to this, many riots broke out. Thousands of citizens protested, which then led to seventy of their deaths, due to the measures that were taken by the government.

The president was then replaced by Petro Poroshenko , who supported the protests and gained his reign through popular vote. Upon his rise, the country split and chose sides. Pro-European protests broke out in the west, while Pro-Russian in the East. At that, Russia for some reason thought it was okay, and even welcome, to come in and invade the land of East Ukraine. It seems Russia misunderstood, because the country was not okay with that, at all. This led to a large referendum in which 90% of the country had voted to join Russia, however, the nation as a whole was against it. Therefore, if the NATO decides to side with and help the Eastern Ukrainians, Putin will get pissed off and start a war, leading to an unavoidable World War Three.

Furthermore, on this subject of invasion, there is still the Arab-Israeli conflict that seems to have never ended since the time of the Old Testament, and probably never will according to the Prophecies. Basically, they’re on this eternal battle over the Arabs coming in and invading land given to the Israelites by God Himself, and when religion is involved everything seems to escalate for whatever reason because clearly, the human race can’t seem to love itself, even though every religion involved preaches nothing but love and acceptance, (well, most sides of them anyway).

That’s pretty promising when looking at another world war, isn’t it?

In these countries, it is also very relevant to see the spread of fascism and communism erupting all over again. With clear dictatorship over the Arab countries, it gives these unwanted leading powers complete control over the nations’ economies, throwing them back into the third-world status that they just barely escaped. Studies show the spread of famine and poverty all over Africa, the Middle East, and even in some parts of Europe, Asia, and most of South America. It’s honestly a bit surprising that the United States hasn’t hopped aboard this horrible phenomenon, but with the unemployment rate increasing, along with the prices of just about everything, and the fact that they are highly indebted to China, but the president is spending all the tax-payers’ money on golf trips, fancy hotels, and tweeting too much to focus, this nation is not too far behind, unfortunately.

Once again, the world is seeing the same downward spiral that sprouted during The Great Depression and the spread of communism approaching World War Two. With poverty, comes weakness to a nation and even desperation. As mentioned above, this allows enormous leeway for unpromising leaders to rise and take over.

There are still many more issues to be addressed, however, this is only one paper, and to fully adhere the world’s problems would take quite a few novels. However, it is evident the biggest problem is that instead of fighting together to build and to fix and to help, the world is fighting against itself. Truly, it is one human race that has captivated this planet. It doesn’t really matter who has which land, what color the people are, or what they worship. All these factors were an immediate cause of war. It seems most citizens preach peace and coexistence, but the governments are still fighting tooth for a tooth, over, really if you think about it, nothing. Nothing in this world will be improved or solved by war.

War will only destroy the economy more, turn the human race even more barbaric, and eventually, lead into complete destruction of this planet. As Albert Einstein said, “I know not with what weapons World War Three will be fought, but World War Four will be fought with Sticks and Stones.” War will only lead the world backward. It’s evident in history, and it’s evident today. But who’s going to listen to some music student? Keep going the way you are, my dear human race, and you won’t exist much longer.