Custom «Age of Enlightenment vs. WWII» Essay Paper Sample

The Second World War (WW2) and the Holocaust revolutions of 1945 became of great disadvantage to the age of enlightment project, which aimed at improving the shuttered world into a better one. This statement therefore propels me to agree with the stated statement since both revolutions has brought in miserable failure to the initiated project. The Second World War participants involved seventy nations of the world hence it may be seen as massive and consequently destructive. This war was majorly fought in three continents namely Africa, Asia and Europe. Its causes involved domination of military personnel witnessed from the First World War, racism that the people of different races faced, colonialism especially in the African continent, nationalism and resistance from the oppressed individuals. In addition, its cause can also be attributed to the unresolved issues that emerged from the first war.

The Nazis who were among the war participants took an initiative of eradicating the Jews whose population growth was quite rampant. During the first war, the Jews were well settled in twenty one countries of Europe. The Nazis took this inhuman action because they wanted to settle their Germany's troops. This witnessed the massive killing of the Jews. An estimate of six million Jews lost their lives such that by the beginning of the Second World War in 1945, at least two of every European Jews lost their lives. The Nazis not only killed the old but also indiscriminately killed the children whose number was approximated to be one million, six hundred thousand ( Bender, 2008).

The age enlightment objectives which included better leadership, provision of better education, peace advocacy, solving religious differences, campaigning for gender equality, introduction of modern technology and also modernization were never realized in full. For any country in the world to achieve political stability, it must have leaders who are fully dedicated to serve the people. They should give their own needs to the second priority only after serving its population loyally and effectively (Gray, 1997).

Nationalism and resistance by the colonial subjects was among the causes of the world war. This was mainly witnessed in African continent because most Europeans wanted colonies in Africa. The lucky few Africans who saw the light of education on their rights and freedoms took advantage of their knowledge to enlighten their fellow brothers. When Africans realized their rights and freedoms were violated by the colonialist, they took a step to fight for it hence resulting to wars. Emerging wars became disadvantageous to the age enlightment project since there was no stability at all.

Racism also contributed to the conflict eruptions that witnessed mass killing of people in the world. The Europeans under no circumstance wanted to be equated to the Africans. The blacks were segregated against in places of worship, schools and even in hospitals. For instance, a sick person of black origin could not be attended before a person of European origin. In addition, the products given to them were generally of low quality. This fact therefore slowed the process of age enlightment since its objective involved the advocacy of equality and stamping out racism.

Militarism being a contributing factor of the Second World War also became an abject failure towards achievement of a better world. The military manpower comprised of brutal individuals who wanted their demands met without consideration whether they were humane or not. In most instances, the military mistreated the people and hence majority lost their lives. The enlightment project required participation of all individuals. This therefore meant that the process was hindered.

Colonialism involved the rush by different Europeans powers to grab African continents so as to attain resources such as raw materials for their industries. The rush for colonies involved leaders. This meant that leaders were to divide their roles because of the newly acquired colonies. With regards to the age enlightment, the process was slowed since the act of serving several masters at the same time leads to production of less quality products.

Religious differences also contributed to the slow process of age enlightment project. For instance, the Nazis brutally killed the Jews because of their selfish need of settling their military in Europe. Over past, there has been a fight that exists due to differences in religions, for example between Christians and the Muslims. Differences in their views may lead to eruption of conflicts that may eventually result to wars. From researched evidence, war has always slowed the growth and the development of a given country. For a religion to be seen as righteous and in the right direction, they try by all means to outweigh the other and in the event leading to misunderstandings and fighting.

After the end of the First World War, the participants never had in their minds that there could emerge another war. They however thought that their aired grievances were to be resolved and therefore was ready to take part in the development of their shuttered nations. Contrary to their thinking, there emerged the second war since their grievances were never met as required. The seventy nations who actively participated in the world war had different reasons and grievances hence became difficult to arrive at a common understanding. They therefore saw fighting as a better was of articulating their problems. In the event of war, the process of age enlightment therefore was hindered.

Education contributed to the slow age enlightment. The quality of education was availed during the Second World War in accordance with the origin and the race of an individual. This therefore meant that people obtained various qualities of education ranging from high to low quality. During the ww2, there were less technological advancements. Such levels of technologies could not be put into adequate usage due to emergence of wars that led to destruction of the existing facilities. In addition, during this period, a small percentage of people especially in African continent had acquired knowledge. This factor hindered the enlightment process since the participants of the age enlightment had to first educate the population before moving to the next step of wooing people to embrace change for the benefit of improving their lifestyles and most of all moving the current poor world to a better one ( Taylor, 2007).

From the above discussions, it is very clear that the process of age enlightment is cordially determined by several factors. Such factors may be summarized as political stability in the country, the quality of leadership, the overall allocation of resources, advocating gender equality and most of it all provision of quality education without elements of racism. Necessity being the mother of invention, it is therefore necessary to review the political, social and economic aspects so as to enhance age enlightment.