|
dude....ther is no way in satan's hell that this must be known by wednesday. and this is 1/9 essays.
What factors led to the outbreak of the Second World War? Explain what was going on in Europe, Asia, and the U.S. in the years leading up to the war:
EUROPE
March 15, 1939 (Post WWII Events…around ending of WWI)
• The German Army invades Czechoslovakia
• Adolf Hitler demands the free city of Danzig in Poland.
• The United Kingdom and France pledge to support Poland.
• End of Spanish Civil War.
• Italy invades and occupies Albania.
• The United Kingdom and France pledge to support Romania and Greece.
• The Soviet Union proposes a triple alliance with the United Kingdom and France. The UK and France refuse.
• Sweden, Norway and Finland reject Germany's offer of non-aggression pacts.
• Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, a non-aggression treaty between Germany and the Soviet Union with secret provisions for the division of Eastern Europe.
Summary: (Things from WWI that sparked WWII).
The origins of World War II are generally viewed as being traced back to the First World War (1914-1918). In that war Imperial Germany under the nationalistic Kaiser Wilhelm II had been defeated along with its allies, chiefly by a combination of the United Kingdom, United States and France. The war was directly blamed by the victors on the militant nationalism of the Kaiser's Germany; it was Germany that effectively started the war with an attack on France through Belgium. France had in 1871 suffered a defeat in the Franco-Prussian War, which directly was followed by the constitution of a German Empire under Prussian leadership. France now demanded revenge for its financial devastation during the First World War (and its humiliation in the earlier war), which ensured that the various peace treaties, specifically the Treaty of Versailles imposed tough financial war reparations and restrictions on Germany. (See: Aftermath of World War I for more details.)
Italy:
The Italian economy also fell into a deep slump following World War I. 1914's Red Week had expanded into the post-war Biennio Rosso, and many were gravely worried that a Bolshevik-style Communist revolution was imminent. After a number of liberal governments failed to rein in these threats, and the Fascists had increased their public profile by highly visible punishment expeditions to supposedly crush the Socialist threat, King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy invited Benito Mussolini to form a government on October 29, 1922. The Fascists maintained an armed paramilitary wing, which they employed to fight Anarchists, Communists, and Socialists. Within a few years, Mussolini had consolidated dictatorial power, and Italy became a police state. During the Spanish Civil War, seen by many as a testing ground for the Second World War, he provided troops and aid to Franco's Nationalists.
Aid in the Spanish Civil War that lead to WWII
While many nations refused to become involved in the Spanish Civil War, notably Britain and France, troops were sent by both Hitler and Mussolini to aid the Spanish Nationalists, which included those with Fascist leanings. It would prove to be a precursor to many of the tactics and methods employed in the Second World War, such as the test bombing of Guernica, which aimed to see how effective the Blitz would be. Spain would be neutral during World War Two, but the division during the Civil War of Fascism (Germany and Italy) versus democracy (many volunteers joined the forces against the Nationalists from countries with an official stance of neutrality) and Communism (the USSR) was repeated during the Second World War.
Germany
Hitler moved troops into the Rhineland on March 7, 1936. Under the Treaty of Versailles, the Rhineland should have been demilitarized, for France wanted it for a buffer between herself and Germany. But, as before, Hitler's defiance was met with inaction, despite Polish proposal to put in action the Polish-French alliance. While before Munich - France, Czechoslovakia and Poland were together strong enough to stop German aggression, the destruction of Czechoslovakia dramatically shifted balance of powers in Europe in favour of Nazi Germany which now turned its attention to Poland.
ASIA
Japan
In the east, Japan had, as early as the late nineteenth century, begun to spread out across Asia, brought about by conflict between traditional Japanese practices and changing social conditions associated with rapid industrialisation and modernisation. In 1905 Japan won an astounding victory over Russia, and in 1910 it occupied Korea and made it a colony. During the 1920s democracy seemed to be taking root in Japan, but by the 1930s, the Great Depression brought to the fore many talented military leaders who took control of Japan, often ruling in the name of Emperor Hirohito, and playing on the traditional respect the Japanese people held for their emperors. In 1931, Japan invaded and occupied Inner Manchuria, setting up the puppet state of Manchukuo, and by 1937 launched a second invasion that occupied the rest of the region. For this reason, some scholars consider 1936/37 the actual start of World War II.
Overall Summary of Causes:
Fascist movements emerged in Italy and Germany during the global economic instability of the 1920s, and consolidated power during the Great Depression of the 1930s In Japan the military essentially took over control of the government having veto power over any program or legislation they didn't like or sponsor. In Germany, resentment of the Treaty of Versailles and the onset of the world wide Great Depression fueled the rise to power of the militarist National Socialist German Workers Party (the Nazi party), of which Adolf Hitler was the leader. Benito Mussolini, leader of the Fascist party, took control of Italy. Meanwhile, the Versailles Treaty's provisions against German rearmament were laxly enforced from fear of another war and lack of unity by the western allies. Closely related was the failure of the British and French policy of Appeasement, which sought to avoid or postpone another war by appeasing Hitler but actually emboldened the Axis leadership. The Soviet Union's signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact with Germany freed them of the fear of resistance from the Soviet Union when Germany invaded Poland. The Soviets were more than happy to split up Poland as part of their price for keeping out of the war. The League of Nations, which was founded with the goal of preventing global conflict, was unable to prevent the start of World War II due to its impotence to enforce any of its actions due to lack of unity by its members. In addition, French and British dislike of the brutal dictator Joseph Stalin and his Communist government before the war prevented an alliance between Western Europe and Stalin's Soviet Union. The United States, with a strong pacifist movement, stayed neutral on the sidelines during this period.
The World War II started after the actions of Germany and Japan became intolerable to their neighbors. These aggressive acts had continued for a number of years and were eventually met with armed resistance, after the invasion of Poland in Europe, and the invasion of China in Asia. In both cases, the attacks were triggered by expansionistic and racist ruling elites, which had come to power over the preceding decades. The reasons for their rise to power shared some similarities, but were also quite different from country to country. The Nazi Party came to power in Germany by democratic means, although after acquiring power they eliminated (by murder) most vestiges of Germany's democratic system. The reasons for their popularity included their renouncement of the Treaty of Versailles, which had placed many restrictions on Germany since the end of the World War I, staunch anti-communism, and promises of stability and economic reconstruction. They also appealed to a sense of Germanic identity, superiority and entitlement, which would play an important role in starting the war, as they demanded the integration of lands they considered to be rightfully German. Hitler was also portrayed by himself, his party, and his book Mein Kampf as a traditional savior for the German people, an idea whose popularity was boosted in the 1930s because of Germany's loss of World War One and of common discontent towards Kaiser Wilhelm II, the hereditary leader of Germany. Italy became totalitarian before Germany, but did so for similar reasons.
|
