What Was The Domino Effect

The definition of the domino effect is this: a series of similar or related events occurring as a direct and inevitable result of one initial event. This is a simplified explanation of the causes of World War II. It all started with something that was meant to bring peace between the quarreling countries. This started the train of events that led up to another world war. However, it was not a single event that caused such a huge war but a large line of ‘dominoes’ that made the relations of the countries fall into turmoil. Most of the causes can be summed up to one major problem: bad relations. The aftermath of the First World War, the Isolationism of the United States of America, and the weaknesses of the Treaty of Versailles all led to the

The American people pushed for their leaders to leave the rest of the world alone and focus on the citizens of the United States. Fisher stated that “it was also that the President, like his compatriots, was steeped in the old isolationist tradition that the only proper business of the United States lay right at home” (p. 42). The Americans did not care about the state of Germany, Japan, Russia, England, or France. The people wanted to fix the problems at home before venturing into other countries’ business. By taking a major world leader out of play, the Axis powers saw ample opportunity to start mixing things up. To put it in on a smaller scale, picture a high school with three main students: the principal, the bully, and the kid who gets picked on. When the principal is in the room, the bully behaves nicely and obeys the rules. As soon as the principal is preoccupied with something else, the bully will begin the pick on and torment the smaller kid. This is essentially what happened in the world, just on a global scale. By staying out of foreign affairs, America’s foreign policy of Isolationism paved the way for the Axis powers to begin