The Causes of World War II Paper by: Margaret Raemsch
The causes of World War II are the Great Depression, the Treaty of Versailles, the Japanese Expansion, fascism, appeasement, and hitler and the nazi party.
The Treaty was written by the Allies without consideration for Germany. The Allies were not allowed to participate in the drafting of the Treaty. So instead of a peace treaty, it was more like a surrender document. The French wanted to weaken Germany to make it impossible for them to ever make war again. Germany’s large military was not allowed to rebuild. Even though, Germany alone was required to take responsibility for the war. A reparation is a large amount of money that had to be paid by Germany. Large territories gained in earlier
…show more content…
It is driven by obedience to a charismatic leader, militarism and struggle in society. It was a reaction to the economic and political crises after World War I especially in Italy, German and Spain. Fascism replaced weak political systems in these countries.
Militarism is the policy of maintaining a strong military and using it aggressively, viewing military order as the highest ideal of a nation. Aggressive use of military for expansion was favored by Fascist leaders in Italy, Germany and by the Japanese leading to World War II.
Hitler and the Nazi Party rose to power and were against a weak democratic government. The Germans were desperate for a strong leader to restore their national pride and to turn around their economy. In 1934, Hitler was proclaimed the “Fuhrer” or leader and became the dictator of
…show more content…
He believed that peace could be achieved through arranging a general settlement that would almost replace the Treaty of Versailles and bring Germany into an agreeable treaty.
Appeasement reached its climax on September 1938 with the Munich Agreement. Chamberlain hoped to avoid a war over Czechoslovakia by agreeing to Adolf Hitler’s demands. The Agreement allowed Nazi Germany to seize the Sudetenland, the German-speaking parts of Czechoslovakia. However, the following year Hitler occupied the rest of Czechoslovakia and invaded Poland on September 1, 1939.
Appeasement was a huge cause of the war as it permitted countries to get what they demand, in the end, it allowed Germany to become such an influential force. It was through appeasement that Germany got what they bargained for, and it was only when appeasement failed, that the most overwhelming war in history
Fascism was a totalitarian political movement that developed after 1919 as a reaction against the political and social changes brought about by World War 1 and the spread of socialism and communism. It flourished between 1919 and 1945 in several countries, mainly Germany, Spain, Italy, and Japan. Fascism is a form of totalitarian dictatorship that had ideals such as extreme nationalism, economic self sufficiency and military strength. The dictators abolished all opposition against them and basically took complete control of the lives of everyone in their country.
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.
The policy of appeasement was widely pursued by Britain and France in the 1930s, when it referred to attempting to satisfy Germany's demands by negotiation and compromise, which would avoid war. However due to its failure the policy of appeasement, to a large extent was responsible for the outbreak of war in 1939. It is clear that if the Western Powers had retaliated against Hitler, war could have been avoided, it encouraged Hitler, Hitler could never be appeased, and that it prompted the Nazi-Soviet Pact. Despite large extent the policy of appeasement in the outbreak of war it is superseded by other factors such as the Treaty of Versailles.
During the period previous to World War II causes that led to World War II included German attempt of imperialism in Europe, pro-appeasement ideologies towards German military expansion, and ignoring con-appeasement ideologies towards German military expansion.
During World War 2, the Treaty of Versailles was unfair to the axis powers. Inflation and war debt just made things worse. The German population wanted a leader who could save them from this misery, so they chose Hitler and that’s how Germany became powerful after its fall, and how Hitler began his control over Europe. Appeasement is to make someone less angry by agreeing to their demands. Collective security is the cooperation of several countries in an alliance to strengthen the security of each. The war was brought and the best response to aggression was collective security.
World War II is argumentatively one of the largest events in war history. World War II changed that world and everyone who lived during those six years. Many people believe that Adolf Hitler was the central cause for the war, however, it is important to understand that there are many other causes. These include: Treaty of Versailles, Fascism, Hitler and the Nazi party, the Great Depression, and appeasement. It would be extremely difficult to place blame on only one specific person or event for World War II. However, a mixture of many things can and may however hold the blame for World War II. It is crucial to understand the impact that World War II left countries throughout the world, especially since only eight countries declared neutrality during this wartime. Even though only eight countries remained neutral during WWII, it does not mean that every other country in the world was heavily involved in the world. Even countries who were not heavily involved in the war, were still effected by the war itself.
Militarism contributed to the great war because it made nations exalt war. They believed there was a direct correlation
To many, this made appeasement seem unnecessary because it had nothing to slow down in terms of military advancement. Instead of appeasement, a show of great force would have “caused Hitler to either stand down, or begin war with far less support than he had a year ago” (Document C). Great Britain did the opposite of this, and eventually gave into Hitler's demands. Giving Hitler what he wanted, which was Sudetenland, would only cause “Czechoslovakia to be engulfed in the Nazi Regime” (Document B). Germany’s docile state at the time of the appeasement made created little to no necessity for
The Treaty of Versailles,which ended WWI, led to the start of WWII. The Germans as one of the axis powers in world war II were the cause of world war II. The Treaty of Versailles treated Germany harshly in at least three ways is Territorial Loss, Military Reduction and Economic Reparation and War Guilt.
One tremendous cause of the War was the Treaty of Versailles which was created after the end of World War One. After this war, there was constant aggression and tension throughout Europe and most of Germany. Hitler who realized this began to create a following, and promised he would establish German pride which was taken away from them when the Treaty of Versailles was put in place. Although Hitler came to power legally, he began to disregard the treaty and started to build up the German army. Another major cause of this war was the hatred for communism. Hitler and other powers who despised communism teamed up to fight against it. In order to do this Hitler signed an appeasement. However, this appeasement didn’t last long and Hitler soon broke the treaty. This betrayal led to France and Britain declaring war on Germany, which marked the start of World War Two. World War Two was a horrific war and impacted many religious, political and ethnic groups, as well as German society itself. Atomic bombs were dropped killing a tremendous amount and injuring many as well in Japan. Yet, the specific groups that were impacted the most were the Jews and Communists. From the beginning of the war Hitler had a huge amount of hatred for the Jews and Communists. Hitler believed that the Germans were the superior race and the Jews and Communists were the source of all the problems. Therefore, concentration camps were
Before World War II, the policy of appeasement was introduced. Appeasement is when a country does whatever it takes to satisfy a dissatisfied country to avoid war. Germany and Hitler were one of the few countries that were dissatisfied, in which many countries appealed to them to prevent the starting of another world war. After Hitler got what he wanted through appeasement, he waited “ten short days” before he decided to attack again (4). Although Europe was trying to avoid war, with Germany constantly going against it, it was hard to stay positive and keep the peace. WIth Hitler’s refusal to agree with the other countries, Czechs were angered, but had not power to defend itself. This policy of appeasement, which did not succeed was a terrible event for the Big Four, who wanted to avoid
Through the Treaty of Versailles, the Great Depression of 1929, and political appointment by incompetent yet manipulative government officials, Adolf Hitler was able to silently rise to power in Germany, consequently causing the Second World War.
World War II was caused when Britain and France declared war on Germany following Germany’s invasion of Poland. The Treaty of Versailles, which was signed after World War I, made Germany take blame and pay for much of the war. This made Germany very unhappy which caused the nation to be upset with the government and bring to power Adolf Hitler, who hated the Treaty of Versailles and wanted it gone. Because of the loose ends the first world war left, Hitler rose to great power being the, Chancellor of Germany, and invaded Poland which set the World War II in motion. Japan invaded China and took over Manchuria which allowed to invade again a few years later. The failure of the League of Nations was another cause of World War I. When this organization failed many countries turned to violence when other countries stopped trading with them causing high tension between them.
The first cause of world war II was the intense anger over the Versailles Treaty. Germany was very angry over two things and the first of which was the many territorial losses they had to endure as a result of the treaty. They lost two cities on the French-German border and as per Wilson’s thirteenth point Poland was re-formed with access to the Baltic Sea, which went right through Germany. Giving Poland Sea access split Germany into two parts, the main part of Germany, and a small portion to the North of the Danzig corridor. The Danzig corridor really inflamed Germany for many years, but they really could not do anything about the situation because they lost world war I. Another country that was angry over the Versailles Treaty was Italy. They were angry because they thought that the land that they had received as a payment for their participation in the Allied effort
The treaty of Versailles was an agreement drafted after the Paris peace conference of 1919. At this conference the Allied Powers - consisting of Britain, Italy, France, Japan and the United States, as well as many small nations - met to discuss the future of the Central Powers -Germany, Austria-Hungary and Turkey - after the First World War, as well as a way to achieve peace. As a result of this conference a number of settlements were drafted, including the Treaty of Versailles. At the time that the treaty was written it was popularly considered unjust. In fact the German population considered this not to be a treaty but a “diktat” or dictated peace. However, many post modernist historians would agree that the treaty was not nearly half as