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The Causes of the Second World War

      

From the first day that he "seized power," January 30, 1933, Hitler knew that only sudden death awaited him if he failed to restore pride and empire to post-Versailles Germany.   His close friend and adjutant Julius Schaub recorded Hitler's jubilant boast to his staff on that evening, as the last celebrating guests left the Berlin Chancellery building: "No power on earth will get me out of this building alive!"

David irving, Hitler's War: An introduction to the new edition (1989).

   

Links

Long and short-term causes - an excellent resource from History Learning.

More ideas

The Great Depression as a cause of war

  

- BBC debate-podcast on what caused the war

 

A Marxist view - emphasises the economic causes.

Building up German Hegemony in Central Europe, 1933-8 - very detailed and difficult 

 

Think: 

Think back over what you can remember of the events of the period  1919-1939.   Skim through the mini-books on the Treaty of Versailles, the League of Nations, and the Road to War.

Working with a partner, can you think of any reasons why the Second World War broke out.   Draw them onto a spidergram, showing the links between them.

   

Historians have suggested many reasons why World War Two broke out in 1939 (find out about them by following the Links).

     However, have you realised that the World War II was the culmination of the inter-war period, and that your whole course of study has been building up to understanding it?

     You ALREADY KNOW the key causes of the war - because you have been studying them!

 

The five most important causes, therefore, were:

    

  1. Treaty of Versailles solved nothing

    Reparations left many people in the victorious nations feeling guilty.   The loss of all that land to other countries simply made Hitler's early aggression look justified.   Self-determination surrounded Germany by a lot of small nation states that fell easy prey to Germany.   But, most of all, the Treaty made the Germans angry, just waiting their chance for revenge.

       

  2. League of Nations failed to keep the peace

    It was weak from the beginning, and had spectacular failures in Manchuria and Abyssinia, and in making Hitler keep the Treaty of Versailles.   It failed to achieve disarmament.   Countries left the failing League, and realised that they would have to fight a war.

       

  3. Appeasement

    Appeasement encouraged war.   It made Hitler think no one dare stop him, which encouraged him to go further and further until in the end he went too far.   The Sudetenland led Stalin to make the Nazi-Soviet Pact, because he believed he could not trust Britain.

       

  4. Hitler

    Many historians still think that the Second World War was Hitler's personal war, and that he always intended to fight a war - as a re-run of a First World War he did not believe that German had lost fairly.

       

    This drawing by the British Cartoonist David Low (20 March 1935) is titled 'Cause comes before effect'.   The cartoon shows Hitler's armies marching past him - but at the front are politicians such as Chamberlain, Clemenceau, Laval and Mussolini, and they are saluting Hitler too.   They have rolled up the Versailles Treaty and carry a flag saying '10 years of lost opportunity'.   The message of the cartoon is that Hitler may be bringing war, but it is the politicians of France, Britain and Italy who are to blame - for letting him.

     

  5. Events (the Six Steps to War)

    As you will find out when you study the Cold War, the events leading up to the war played a part in starting the fighting.   Each event created anger in the allies.   This anger grew until Chamberlain declared war on Hitler on 3rd September 1939.   
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    As always, look carefully at the dates, and only talk about the events required by the essay title.

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    Also, do not slide into simply describing HOW war came.   Remember that you are NOT just describing the things that Hitler did 1933-1939 - you must explain how the things that Hitler did 1933-1939 caused more and more anger and therefore led to a war breaking out.

It is important to decide whether you are being asked HOW or WHY the war came.   

Even teachers and examiners sometimes fail to distinguish properly between HOW and WHY.

   

HOW the war came is the story of the events which led up to the war.

WHY the war came (as on this webpage) is the analysis of the factors which caused the war to happen.

      

     

   

   

   

   

    

Think: 

Look at the first four reasons why the Second World War broke out.   For each, discuss with a partner WHY this might have led to the outbreak of hostilities.

Task

Write the essay: 'Why did war break out in 1939?'

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Write your essay in five paragraphs, as on this webpage.

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Look back through your notes, and include relevant information from your studies.

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Remember to PEE every paragraph, citing evidence, and explaining how each event helped to cause the war

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Include logical connectives such as 'therefore', 'consequently' and 'because of this...'.

   

Now, can you adapt the information in this essay to write the essay in a slightly different form: 'Was the policy of appeasement the most important reason for the outbreak of the Second World War?   Explain your answer.'