Britain Declaration of War on Germany Britain finally decided to go to war with Germany in 1939. There were many reasons for this outcome which I will include in this essay. Firstly I am going to discuss the relationships between countries in Europe at this time as this is an important cause of World War Two. Britain and Germany were at unease from the signing of the Treaty of Versailles in World War One, they felt hard done by as their power was dramatically taken away from them, they lost territory and their army was cut down significantly. Germany also felt humiliated and their new leader Hitler wanted to make Germany into a great and powerful country again. To do this he firstly had to build up his army, so Hitler started to rearm Germany, he increased his army to 600,000 men and started to prepare for war, they built up the navy and their air force. Meanwhile Britain ignored what Hitler was doing as they did not look at it as a threat. Hitler then started to press on rapidly by marching into the Rhineland in March 1936 with absolutely no resistance. This was the first sign of appeasement where Britain saw what Hitler was doing but took no action as they also thought that this was not a threat and also that the demands weren't to unreasonable. Then to increase Germanys power in Europe Hitler and Mussolini signed an agreement. Hitler then went forward again and took over Austria in the Anschluss of 1938; again France and Britain did absolutely nothing to stop Hitler. This was a very important invasion for Hitler as this was mostly a German speaking country which made Hitler a far more powerful man. Still after this Hitler wanted more, so his next step was to go and take over the Sudetenland which was the German speaking area of Czechoslovakia, and to everybody's surprise there was no British or French presence to stop him. The strategy that Britain was using was appeasement which I have mentioned before.
...onger. But a generation later, the game was on once again; the war aims were much the same. Germany felt it must defend its way of life and stand up for progress. Britain wanted to defend the status quo but it used the excuse of the invasion of another country as the immediate pretext for entry: first Belgium, later Poland. In both world wars, Germany was the innovator, morally and technologically. Britain and France were fighting previous wars while Germany led the way in technology, techniques and tactics.
Despite Germany’s withdrawal from the League of Nations in 1933, their rearmament program which directly violated the Treaty of Versailles and Italy’s occupation of Ethiopia in 1935, Britain continued to appease the leaders in order to avoid conflict. Firstly, Britain was suffering from an economic crisis following the Wall Street Crash and the Great Depression making it extremely vulnerable in the event of a war. Additionally, Britain couldn’t reach out to anyone for support; the USA practiced isolationism and communist Russia wouldn’t make a good ally. Furthermore, the British people were against another conflict and were still recuperating from World War I. The aforementioned reasons explain the rationale behind British appeasement policy in the
Unfortunately, Germany invaded Czechoslovakia due to the fact that they had been asking for appease with Hitler as Czechoslovakia wanted Sudetenland back. This meant that Hitler broke the Munich Agreement and was lying at the Munich conference. In addition, this showed that Hitler couldn't be trusted and Chamberlain assumed that WW2 could start because Hitler already invaded Czechoslovakia and could move to any other country. Britain knew that Germany were going to invade Poland so Chamberlain threatened to defend Poland in case Hitler went through with the invasion.
Other countries mainly Britain responded to Hitler’s actions with appeasement and by not stopping him early on with collective security it directly caused World War Two. Collective Security is when multiple countries work together to strengthen a country in need. Based off of document 6 Winston Churchill suggested that Britain, France, and other nations should come together and protect Czechoslovakia from Hitler to stop the growth of Nazi power. Collective Security could have prevented Czechoslovakia from coming into German control. While in accordance with document 9 nobody could openly oppose Hitler’s massive forces he had accumulated. Which is why they didn’t use collective security to protect Czechoslovakia. Instead they used The Munich Agreement to appease to Hitler. The Munich Agreement handed over Czechoslovakia in hopes it would diminish Hitler’s need to keep taking over surrounding countries. Stated in document 7 The Munich Agreement was unnecessary because Czech defenses were relatively strong and during this time Germany wasn’t at its zenith of strength. Also Hitler’s generals were going to try to overthrow Hitler if he attacked Czechoslovakia because the Generals believed it was a foolish endeavour that would mean the downfall of
The United States was not fighting in World War I until April 1917. Prior to the US entering the war, President Woodrow Wilson ordered a proclamation of “strict and impartial neutrality” because he was horrified by the amount of casualties the war brought. This proclamation allowed Americans to sell goods to countries in war, but seemingly they favored the Allies and America eventually declared war on Germany in 1917 for many reasons. One reason Wilson requested a Declaration of War, was because of the economy. American banks were giving huge loans of money to the Allies, and if they did not win, America would not get their money back. Putting this into consideration, bankers were influenced to start a war with Germany, the other side of
Germany was economically frail subsequent to World War I. The Treaty of Versailles had held them accountable for the cause, and the Great Depression further deteriorated their condition. Germany was ambitious for power and resources. Envisioning world domination, Adolf Hitler, dictator of Nazi Germany, led his Nazi Party to invade Poland in 1939. France and Britain guaranteed to offer military support if Poland were to become attacked; they declared war, initiating World War II.
The Second World War was caused by Germany’s desire to revoke the Treaty of Versailles of 1919 and Hitler’s relentless quest for empire. This was considered a valid response to why the war began in 1939, until 1961 when A. J. P Taylor...
The first underlying cause of WWI was greed. People always want more than what they have. The countries from the Triple Alliance wanted more land, power, or wealth than what they owned. Germany despised Great Britain at the time, because of the number of colonies they had. In Document --, a German cartoonist drew a propaganda poster, claiming "England is the bloodsucker of the world". This appears that Germany is very fearful of England taking control of the world. It also shows that Germany aspires to be as large of a country of Great Britain. Also, in document 16, in the spring of 1914, before the war started,
The 1920s had a good outlook towards peace, but near the end of the decade and throughout the 1930s signs of war were forming. Leaders arose in countries that were unsatisfied with the results of World War I. Germany, Italy, and Japan took aggressive actions, and neither the League of Nations nor the democratic countries were stopping them. British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain suggested the policy of appeasement towards Hitler to keep peace. Europe moved closer to war as these actions were made. World War II had propelled with the lack of judgement by the League of Nations by continuous appeasing Hitler.
This enabled Hitler to rise to power in this country in the years after World War I and leading up to World War II. France and Britain still had the memory of World War I when Hitler started to rise to power and take over new lands. Because they did not want to enter another conflict with Germany France and Britain hoped that taking an approach of “appeasement” with Germany would prevent another World War. It was this philosophy of appeasement, which led them to sign the “Munich Agreement” in which France and Britain agreed to allow Germany to take over portions of Czechoslovakia. Those who Neville Chamberlin argued in defense of appeasement, “….if I were convinced that any nation had made up its mind to dominate the world by fear of its force, I should feel that it must be resisted”(379). He clearly felt that the threat of Nazi Germany was not as serious as it would ultimately become. “As long as war has not begun, there is always hope that it may be prevented”(379). France and Britain hoped desperately that by appeasing Germany they could prevent a total war. However, by giving Germany land and power France and Britain strengthened Germany and weakened themselves for when they would eventually have to fight
Welcome fellow Senators. We are here today to discuss what the United States should do following Germany’s announcement of unrestricted submarine warfare and the sinking of the three American merchant ships. A resolution is put forth in front of the senators. The first section of the resolution says that: The U.S. Government authorizes President Wilson to use the Armed Forces of the Unit6ed States to wage war against the Nation of Germany. The second section says that: The U.S. Congress supports the president’s request for a declaration of war against the Nation of Germany. I fully agree with this resolution 100%. I agree with war against Germany, as I have said ever since the sinking of the Lusitania.
The First World War (WWI) was a global war started in Europe from 1914 until 1918 that killed over 9 million soldiers as according to Van Tol, Ottery & Keith (2012). This huge, bloody war was caused by many different factors, such as colonial rivalries, militarism and the alliance system which centred in Europe. Most importantly, the July Crisis in 1914 – began with the murder of Archduke Franz Ferdinand – was the immediate cause of World War One. Nonetheless, the two major causes were nationalism and imperialism – jingoism and greed for power plus wealth – that directed the countries to war, as will be explained further in this essay.
The defeat of Germany in World War Two was due to many factors. All of these factors were influenced by the leadership and judgment of Adolf Hitler. Factors such as the stand fast policy, Hitler’s unnecessary and risky decision making in military situations, for example when attacking the USSR, and the declaration of war on the US. Plus other factors, like Hitler’s alliance with Italy, despite its obvious weaknesses, and the pursuit of the final solution, can all be attributed to the poor leadership and judgement of the Fuhrer, which would eventually lead to the downfall of the Third Reich.
...t, Hitler believed that the British government would reconsider its policy of appeasement. He thus decided to invade Poland on September 1st 1939, on 3rd, British declared war against Hitler (Scaife 121). Hitler’s invasion of Poland was from the hope that the policy of appeasement would be used to solve the matter, but it failed.
It’s 4:30am on September 1st, 1939 and the German battleship Schleswig-Holstein awaits for the order to open fire on the Polish garrison of the Westerplatte Fort, Danzig in what was to become the first military engagement of World War II. Meanwhile, sixty two German divisions supported by 1,300 fighter planes prepared for the invasion of Poland. Fifteen minutes later the invasion would take place and spark the beginning of World War II. Two days later at 9am Great Britain would send an ultimatum to Germany, demanding that they pull from Poland or go to war with Great Britain. Four hours later the Ultimatum would expire and Great Britain would officially be at war with Germany on September 3rd, 1939. Six hours later France would also declare war on Germany.