On Jan. 4, the United States fired missiles at the Baghdad airport resulting in the death of Qassem Soleimani, the most powerful military general in Iran. In response to this attack Iran sent at least a dozen ballistic missiles to a military base in Iraq housing US troops, fortunately there were no casualties. These events between the US and Iran have caused people to speculate about a third world war occurring with the #WWIII trending on social media. One of the reasons this is being said to be the start of another world war is because the killing of Soleimani is being compared to the assassination of Franz Ferdinand that started WWI. 

When Franz Ferdinand was assassinated it started a war between the two countries, but because of alliances between those countries the war became bigger than it truly needed to be. It is still unknown whether or not a world war will happen, but if so America’s population is significantly bigger than Irans and if the war is just between these two countries then it could possibly just be an easy win for the United States. But, like WWI and WWII, this is likely to not be the case. With each country having multiple alliances this war is likely to be bigger than these two countries. 

At the end of WWII, the United States used nuclear bombs on Japan in order for them to surrender. Now in 2020, there are significantly more countries with nuclear weapons, which means WWIII would most likely be a nuclear war. This sounds new and scary, but think back to the First World War, which took place after the industrial revolution when new weapons and technology were created. For example, the machine gun was invented and made killing opponents easier and faster. The invention of planes and submarines also allowed for war in the sky and underwater. Also poisonous gas was created to take out many soldiers at a time and cause them to go blind or, if breathed in, their cells would explode and kill them. Because of these many new inventions and killing techniques, this is one of history’s most brutal wars of all time. 

   After World War I ended, countries thought of many ways to prevent another Great War from happening, but alas another World War broke out. Although the president is probably doing what he thinks will prevent WWIII, like WWI and WWII, it might still happen and will be more brutal than the first world wars.