What Caused World War II?

The policy was based on the League of Nations dealing with any countries, which were too powerful, but as the League of Nations failed, so did the ... ... middle of paper ... ...horrors. The British people also did not want war, and so were pressurising Chamberlain to avoid it. And at this time, Britain was unable to afford to rearm due to economic pressure. But the majority of these reasons are hardly to do with Chamberlain personally, as they had been forced upon him. In 1939 Chamberlain had given the Sudetenland to Hitler, this gave Hitler more confidence to attack more countries and to spread out further.

Germany's treatment at Versailles led to the rise of Hitler as Chancellor of Germany in 1933 and the outbreak of W.W.2 because he promised to break the terms of the treaty. One of the main reasons why Germany resented the Treaty was because it said that Germany was responsible for causing the war, in Clause 231, the ''War Guilt'' Clause. The Poletisons knew that they would get support from other countries if they enforced hard policies on Germany, and they used the Breast-Litovsk (a Treaty Germany had with Russia) as further evidence to punish Germany. Germany believed that did not feel that they had started the war; instead they believed that it was the responsibility of all of the Major European Powers or that they had lost the war - they simply hadn't won Germany also believed that the Treaty was a ''D.I.C.K.T.A.T. ', or a Dictated piece, on which they had to agree to or war would re-commence.

The Treaty of Versailles triggered a chain of events causing World War II, and the Holocaust. After World War I, the Treaty of Versailles was put into place for peace. Germany was forced to sign the treaty between the Allies. The Allies wanted to make Germany “pay” for all the damage committed during World War I (treaty). Germany had to give up the territory it had acquired in the war.

The treaty discriminated strongly against Germany, with the loss of territories, military restrictions, economic reparations, and the War Guilt Clause. It caused humiliation and anger within Germany, and led to Hitler and the Nazi Party coming to power. World War II was not only started by Adolf Hitler and Germany, but had a lot to do with the humiliation that Germany felt when the terms for the Treaty of Versailles were laid down. The harsh terms of the Treaty of Versailles may be indirectly related to the cause of World War II, but nonetheless was a huge factor in starting the war.

France, Italy, Britain and the U.S. met at the Capitol to talk about the terms of peace for the post war. Germany thought this was unfair due to the fact they were not able to attend this talk. The Allied powers told Germany to just sign the treaty and they did not need to know what it was about. Germans refused to sign this treaty and some talked about going back to war. Germany thought this treaty would destroy their economy.

The old government who fled in fear handed over the power of governance to the new government, later known as the Weimar republic. The Weimar republic was often referred to as the ‘November Criminals’ for what the public were made to believe and their obvious mentality towards them; they were portrayed as the perpetrators of war and the blame of World War 1 fell upon them, this political deception was later known as the ‘stab in the back.’ The treaty of Versailles was the initial point of Germany’s chain of weaknesses. This ‘enforced’ treaty was an unforgivable blow to the pride and honour of Germany and it’s people. The misguided people of Germany were under the perception that the war weighed heavier in their favour, through clever manipulative media propaganda, to the people’s shock Germany was ‘forced’ to sign a harsh peace treaty after an unexpected defeat. This became the heart of hostility and resentment towards both the leaders and the victorious allies.

The Allies wanted to take revenge on Germany by humiliating them for the cause of World War One (Sturgeon A., 2009). Without having any say, Germany was forced to sign the treaty and unwillingly signed it on June 28, 1919. This treaty led to the outbreak of World War Two because some land was taken away from Germany, they were forced to pay huge reparations for the damages and more importantly, had to take all the blame for World War One that angered many Germans (Pollata A., September). Germany suffered many territorial losses after the treaty was signed (History Learning Site, 2000). On the east side of Germany, they lost their land to create Poland, but also had to return Alsace and Lorraine back to France (Bolotta A., Hawkes C., Jarman., Keirstead M., Watt J., 2000).

They wanted to get rid of Germany all together, but on the other hand, the British and Americans wanted to avoid forming pretext for a new war (History.com Staff). Allied countries thought that the treaty was a just punishment to Germany, but in the United States it was received with mixed feelings and reviews (Adams). All responsibility for World War I was given to Germany, and they were ordered to pay reparations (Benson). Germany had been anything except pleased about this, and not to mention they felt utterly embarrassed about the situation (Benson). They also felt completely betrayed by Wilson and the United States (“D.1.

The German civilians had interest in Hitler and were ready for a change in Germany. Germany was not accepting the term of the Treaty because it took away their dignity and pride and took some of their land away. Germany was held responsible for the ... ... middle of paper ... ... shocked to see how harsh the terms were. At first the Germans refused to sign the treaty. The German people were bitterly resented the war guilt that was over them.

If he had failed Germany early, perhaps he might have been overthrown. However, all of the agreements and dilemmas described were much too overwhelming for the British government to handle alone, and the optimistic results that the British hoped for would never transpire. After Hitler was able to manipulate the British into signing the Anglo-German Naval Pact, he knew that each nation and League could be dealt with separately in order to achieve his goals. It was during the Rhineland Crisis that the precedence for World War II was set.