Conclusion The lack of economic interdependence and the institutional void of the prewar years contributed to the forsaking of incentives of peaceful cooperation among states. Protectionism doomed global trade while powerlessness wrecked the League of Nations. A second image perspective suggests that the Great Depression and the subsequent social unrest instigated nationalist movements that paved the way for aggressive fascist regimes across Europe. Nonetheless, these arguments were not sufficient causes for the spark of the war, for the nationalist movements endorsed domestic reforms. On the other hand, the failure of institutions demonstrated that collective security stood not among the great powers’ vital interests – for instance, the League lost credibility after its inaction during crises in Manchuria and Ethiopia. In this way, the end of cooperation meant not the outbreak of war, but rather the first step of an escalating conflict. …show more content…
A first image argument could be made that certain leaders contributed to the further destabilization of the international system. For instance, Hitler was an unpredictable amalgamation of Kaiser Wilhelm’s hegemonic ambitions and Bismarck’s Machiavellian statesmanship. According to Mearshimer, “he not only played his adversaries off against each other, but he [convinced] them that Nazi Germany had benign intentions” (Mearshimer 2001, 216). Nonetheless, his concern for German security and consolidation as a powerful nation within the international system was no different from those of his predecessors. In line with this intent, Hitler alone was not the cause for World War II, in the same way that Wilhelm II could not declare war on the Triple Entente before the murder of Archduke
The League of Nations did not prevent another World War due to numerous different reasons. First of all, the League of Nations whole identity was to maintain peace, discourage aggression from any nation, and to inspire other countries to cooperate especially in the field of trading different resources. One of the main ideas involved in the non-prevention of another war by the League of Nations was the Treaty of Versailles. The League of Nation was fully responsible for the process of the treaty going through the International Court of Justice. One the treaty was signed, Germany was reprimanded unethically. The Germans soon started cheating and developed military forces like submarines in the region of the Netherlands and placed tanks in Russia.
The actions of Adolf Hitler the Führer of the German Empire are the main causes for the starting of World War Two. The military actions of Germany such as rearming of the German forces, which increased Hitler’s power and confidence dramatically as did the assistance Germany provided during The Spanish Civil War. The breaking of The Munich Agreement by Hitler was also a very important cause because it made the other powers realise that Hitler could not keep his word and did not want peace. Finally Hitler’s overconfidence that he could invade Poland without starting a war was on of his most important actions as it the trigger point for the Second World War. As a result of Hitler’s actions millions of lives were lost and the entire world would never be the same again.
Many countries went into a policy of isolation and were unable to keep dictators from coming into power, and were not actively interested in the affairs of other countries. Collective security, International co-operation and democracy had largely failed in Europe, which turned and gave rise to totalitarian governments and aggressive dictators to solve their problems and reinstate their national identity, and go back to the "glory days". The dictators used the above failures to their advantage to appeal to a wider audience.
Heinrich von Treitschke is a cause of World War II because of his idea that imperialism is a viable and practical way to further the common good, and strengthen a nation. This appeared in the writings of leaders, such as Mussolini and Hitler, just before World War II, focusing on the idea that, “Only the truly great and powerful states ought to exist” (Treitschke 293). Mussolini believed that war was the greatest measure of the greatness of a country and its people (399). Mein Kampf written by Hitler, echoes Treitschke in the line, “The stronger must dominate and must not blend with the weaker orders and sacrifice their powers” (401).
World War Two was the most devastating conflict in the history of humanity. It crippled many nations and caused millions of people to die. One of the major causes of this disastrous war was the Treaty of Versailles which ended the First World War. This treaty was destructive towards the Germans. Germany had to pay large amounts of reparations to the Allied nations at the end of World War One resulting in a Great Depression in Germany. Additionally, the Treaty of Versailles’ war guilt clause forced Germans to admit full responsibility for starting the war. Furthermore, to gain the support of the German populace, Adolf Hitler adopted an effective propaganda campaign. Adolf Hitler employed a successful propaganda campaign to gain the support of the German people combined with the Treaty of Versailles harsh economic and political sanctions ignited World War Two.
Fascism is defined as, “an authoritarian and nationalistic right-wing system of government and social organization.” Peter Hyland reports that throughout the 1920s and the 1930s, an economic depression was growing and becoming widespread throughout the world. People were losing faith in their democracies and in capitalism. Leaders who gained power supported powerful militarism, nationalism, and initiated the return of an authoritarian rule. J.R. Oppenheimer says that the rise of fascism and totalitarianism in Europe and Russia instigated a “critical step on the path to war.”
However, when confronted with a strict policy of appeasement, by both the French and the English, the stage was set for a second World War. Taylor constructs a powerful and effective argument by expelling certain dogmas that painted Hitler as a madman, and by evaluating historical events as a body of actions and reactions, disagreeing with the common idea that the Axis had a specific program from the start. The book begins with the conclusion of the First World War, by exploring the idea that critical mistakes made then made a second war likely, yet not inevitable. Taylor points out that although Germany was defeated on the Western front, “Russia fell out of Europe and ceased to exist, for the time being, as a Great Power. The constellation of Europe was profoundly changed—and to Germany’s advantage.”
Although in the Treaty of Versailles Germany was to accept full responsibility for World War 1 this in not necessarily the case. Many factors have to be taken into account when considering the cause of World War 1. Germany may have been primarily responsible for the war but the other major powers must accept some of the blame for failing to prevent it. The conflict resulting from the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinard should have been local and confined but due to a series of factors, militarism, the alliance system, nationalism, this one incident led to the greatest war Europe had ever seen. As a result of underlying hostilities the assassination led to a chain of events that ensured war on a wide scale.
The League of Nations has been seen as a seriously flawed international organisation and its failure to prevent World War Two has been well documented. Provide something of an alternative perspective by identifying and highlighting important policy-areas in which the League made valuable progress.
The League of Nations sounds like a superhero team and in a sense, the goal that The League was trying to achieve could have been something straight out of a comic book. Originally proposed by President Woodrow Wilson during World War I, The League was born after some alterations. The League of Nations’ main intention was to bring an end to the war and prevent another one of the same atrocious proportions from happening in the future. Forty zealous countries joined this fight, but the most powerful country of all was not among them: The United States of America. While many Americans agreed with the goal of The League, many did not and those that did not were ones in power. The portion of the “mission statement” for The League that caused
World War I was a conflict that claimed over 10 million peoples’ lives, ravaged all of Europe and engineered modern warfare, as it is know today. The Great War has been scrutinized and examined through many complex theories in order to understand how such a conflict escalated to one of the most epic wars in history. This essay, like many works before it, looks to examine WWI and determine its causes through two distinct levels of analysis, individual and systemic. The individual level of analysis locates the cause of conflicts in individual leaders or decision makers within a particular country, focusing on the characteristics of human decision-making. The systemic level of analysis explains the causation of a conflict from a system wide level that includes all states, taking in to account the distribution of power and the interaction of states in the international system.
With the conclusion of the First World War the League of Nations was founded in the Treaty of Versailles on June 28, 1919. It was the first intergovernmental organization that would keep peace and settle world disputes.
Examinations of Hitler's role in the formulation of Nazi foreign policy and his goals of that foreign policy leads to questions of the limits of his goal of Lebensraum. This introduces the debate between 'globalists' and 'continentalists'. Expanding on Trevor-Roper's emphasis on Hitler's goals of Lebensraum, historian Gunter Moltmann argued that Hitler's aims were not confined to Europe but at world domination. Andreas Hillgruber expands on this idea with his concept of a three-stage plan he calls the Stufenplan as the basis for Nazi foreign policy. This plan involved Germany gaining mastery over Europe, followed by the Middle East and British colonial territory, and later the USA and with that the entire world.
Assessment of the Success of the League of Nations In 1914 war broke out in Europe. The war ended in 1918 and Germany solely blamed. The end of the war was signed with the treaty of Versailles. From the war was born the League of Nations; who helped nations resolve disputes peacefully without going to war. When the League was formed, the defeated nations were not invited to join.
With World War One coming to an end, all of the major world power leaders met for the first big peace meeting. President Wilson had come up with the idea that he thought would become the start of everlasting peace throughout the world. He called it his Fourteen Points, and believed that they were brilliant. Others, however, thought otherwise and were skeptical of these Fourteen Points. Much so that a lot of these points were never even put into use. Wilson surrendered many of his points in order to pass what he thought was the best shot for world peace: his fourteenth point, or better known as the League of Nations. The League of Nations was a committee of nations that promoted worldwide peace and cooperation with one another. It was intended to be an international group discussion designed to talk about diplomatic crises like the ones that provoked the First World War. The League of Nations was indeed one of the best options for maintaining peace and preventing war at the time. It was a must for the United States to join.