Causes of the Second World War
War was declared by Britain and France on Germany, September 1939. World War II lasted for six years killing millions; injuring and traumatising many more. Two decades earlier, World War I had taken place also killing, injuring and traumatising millions.
How was it that even with the creation of the Treaty of Versailles aiming to limit Germany's power and prevent another war; twenty years later Europe was once again plunged into chaos.
Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party with their aggressive policies and actions, in my opinion, are to blame for the war. However, many others are responsible for allowing Hitler and Germany to be in this position and infact, the Treaty of Versailles, aiming to prevent
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Hitler also, chiefly through propaganda, attempted to increase Germany's birth rate; perhaps preparing for a much later war or great losses. He also started the 'Hitler Youth' where young boys were indoctrinated with Nazi ideas and trained to fight and accept war. Hitler thought Germany had lost W.W.I as they had to rely on other countries for war materials and this is why he wanted to achieve autarky (self-sufficiency) in Germany. His introduction of the four year plan seems to us to be an obvious way of Hitler saying he wanted a war.
The plan aimed to make Germany self-sufficient in war materials such as steel, rubber and oil.Infact, the amount of money invested into the industry and military meant Germany needed a war to stop its economy from collapsing (one can rape a country of its materials once it has been conquered). Hitler taking the Rhineland and annexing of the Sudetenland, although aggressive, was reasonable as both contained mainly Germans.
His 'pressurised' take over of Czechoslovakia however was a lot different as it contained few Germans. It was not a reversal of the Treaty of Versailles but Hitler's first strive for Lebensraum. The final straw was Hitler's 'Blitzkrieg'(lightning war) of Poland. France and Britain thought that Hitler had overstepped the line in his take over of Czechoslovakia, so they stated
At the end of WWI many countries blamed Germany for starting the war. These countries used the Treaty of Versailles to punish Germany. These punishments included loss of land and military, infeasible reparations, and complete humiliation; this is how the Treaty of Versailles directly caused WWII.
The Second World War began in September of 1939 and was between the Allies and the Axis. It began with Germany’s unprovoked attack and conquest of Poland, and involved Britain and France from the beginning. Its origins lay in German resentment at the terms of the Treaty of Versailles (1919), the economic crisis of 1929-30, which favored the rise to power of Fascist dictators, the failure of the League of Nations to gain international acceptance for disarmament, and the policy of imperialism adopted by Germany, Italy and Japan as a means of acquiring raw materials and markets. As a part of the Treaty of Versailles, Germany had to accept full responsibility for the First World War, which then led up to the outbreak of the Second. The
On February 3, 1933 during a meeting with German military leaders Hitler said his foreign policy was the conquest of Eastern Europe (Weinberg, 1970), also in 1933 Germany withdrew from the League of Nations, which should have been a warning sign that they were planning something big. This along with the increase of the Wehrmacht (German Army) to 600,000 should have thrown up some red flags to Britain and France that Hitler was up to no go. This was another of Hitler’s direct violations of the Versailles Treaty, yet no one stopped him, instead they let him continue untouched. Then in March of 1936
World War I, a war that started out locally in Europe between Austria-Hungary and Serbia that later ended up including thirty two different nations. This war has been around for almost a century and yet the causes of it are still being debated. There are many different scenarios that have been considered. Some of the key reasons that were believed to have instigated WWI were nationalism, imperialism, militarism, and an arrangement of treaties. Also the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand was believed to be one of the immediate causes.
From the Treaty of Versailles, to the rise of Hitler, and the failure of the League of Nations, there were many causes that lead up to World War II. World War I left Germany with many shortfalls, thus leaving them in the hands of the Treaty of Versailles. Rather unfair of a Treaty, this left Germany once again looking for another way out. A country resented by many had no other choice but to feel optimistic toward Adolph Hitlers empty promises… making it substantially simple for him to gain power so quick. Throw in the Great Depression, and you have a vastly unstable world, which the Germans believed Hitler would lead them out of.
Even today, the causes of World War one is still being debated and the great war started 96 years ago and ended 92 years ago. Yet today after so much time the main cause of the war still remains unexposed to this day. What triggered the whole war was the assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie of Austria-Hungary on June 28th 1914 by The Black Hand. The assassination happened because of feelings toward the Serbians. The Archduke and his wife were on a parade route in their car during their visit to Sarajevo. Many assassins were lined up to take the kill of the Archduke but all failed, there was one young assassin named Gavrilo
In the early 1900’s, the entirety of Europe was divided into various alliances and powers, most notably the Triple Alliance (Germany, Astro-Hungarian Empire, and Italy) and the Triple Entente (France, Russia, and the United Kingdom), which ultimately fell into a hellish firestorm of mustard gas and trench warfare in 1914 that left 18 million dead and Europe’s economies and production decimated manyfold (DBQ Project, Various – Document D). The destruction of the turn-of-the-century nations and Empires that slaughtered over people stems from a chronological progression of ambitious Imperialism, extreme Nationalism, and rapid Militarism.
Living space then, was a necessary objective in Hitler 's eyes, but in order to achieve this space he needed to develop Germany 's army first. So he did. Between 1933 and 1939 the Treaty of Versailles was secretly avoided to massively increase the size of the German army, from 100,000 to 300,00017. The Luftwaffe, German air force, also rapidly increased and by 1940 it was the strongest among all the European powers. The German war machine was impressive, in just six years it went from being the weakest army to one of the strongest18. However, this created a vicious circle in terms of foreign policy for Germany: Hitler wanted living space, so he built up the army. However, in order to pay for this rapid rearmament, he had to conquer territories. Thus, Hitler made war profitable and a key part of the foreign policy of Germany19.
From the time the Treaty of Versailles was completely ignored by Hitler, Germany was well underway causing a large riff between themselves and Britain and France.
The Treaty of Versailles may have been intended to weaken Germany forever, but instead it turned out to be one of the vital underlying causes as to Hitler’s uprising. The Treaty was signed in 1919 to clean up the after
“Hitler began building weapons, training pilots for war, and allied with Austria. He also left an International Disarmament Conference and the League of Nations.” (Chomsky, 2009) Racial theories and goals were at the center of Hitler’s thoughts. He wanted to make Germany a formidable military power.
backed out without much question! It was far too casual for it to be a
The causes of the war really depend on what you believe. Many facts lead to Hitler
Hitler was never secretive about his plans for Germany. His aims were explained in detail in his book Mein Kampf, of what he would do to make Germany a great nation again. His main aims were to:
In adapting the policy Hitler gained confidence, in that his goal for ‘Lebensraum’ would be reached without great conflict. When nothing was done when Hitler announced rearmament of Nazi Germany it opened the way for complete rearmament in preparation for War. Appeasement allowed for Hitler to begin his plans leading up for World War Two giving him an advantage. In the time the policy of appeasement was active Hitler had achieved rearmament, re-occupation of the Rhineland, gaining allies with Mussolini and General Franco who all had simular ideologies. Hitler had also gained the Sudentland. Hitler and Nazi Germany gained all this with little resistance. It was when Hitler invaded the rest of Czechoslovakia and threatened the invasion of Poland that appeasement ended and war begun. Although this is only with Hindsight it would have been impossible to predict Hitler’s future moves.