Why is World War 2 important to remember?

World History - World War

Hundreds of thousands of deaths and dozens of countries. Pretty significant effect on the political and social landscape of the world. The BIG one. It was started w/one bullet. The first 'modern' war. It begun trench warfare, mechanized warfare, chemical warfare, multi-theater warfare, air warfare, and submarine warfare. It also ended the US isolationist policy & it's harsh axis surrender terms and it laid the groundwork for WWII.

The death toll was in the millions and the war changed the face ( maps ) of Europe.

The Most Important Event in the 20th Century

Modern historians consider WW1 to be *the* defining event of modern history, with virtually all significant events afterwards being directly or indirectly caused by the War. WW1 radically changed Western society on a huge number of levels, and the political fallout from the end of the war can be immediately traced to practically any major issue we face today. While WW2 was more materially destructive, WW1 changed the basic assumptions of virtually the entire global society. It ended the age of Empires, created the movements of ethnic national self-determination that plague us today, turned Communism from a pipe dream of academics to an actual "viable" government form, and radically changed governments from modest in scale to huge centralized ones, and put the USA on the road to superpower status, amongst a host of other consequences.