The Road to War: understanding the causes of World War II

Hitler and Mussolini riding in a car together
"Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini in Munich, Germany". National Archives and Records Administration, Item No. 540151. Public Domain. Source: https://catalog.archives.gov/id/540151

The Second World War was one of the deadliest and most devastating conflicts in human history, claiming the lives of tens of millions of people across the globe.

 

While the war's causes are complex and multifaceted, it is generally agreed that a combination of factors, including economic instability, political tensions, and territorial ambitions, contributed to the outbreak of hostilities in 1939.

World War II began when Nazi Germany invaded Poland on the 1st of September 1939.

 

However, this single action was not the only reason why the world fell into a global conflict for the second time.

 

Instead, there were both long-term and short-term causes that meant that the attack on Poland began the war. 

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Long-term verses short-term causes

Every historical event occurs because of a series of events that happened beforehand. Things that directly lead to another event are called ‘Causes’.

 

Some causes occurred immediately before the event began, while others existed for several years before they caused the event.

  • Causes that occurred only a few hours, days or weeks before the event are called 'Short Term Causes'
  • Causes that existed for years, decades or centuries before the event are called 'Long Term Causes' 

Long-term causes of WWII

1. The Treaty of Versailles

When World War One ended in 1918, the various countries involved had to decide how to punish Germany for starting the war.

 

To do this, leaders from countries across the world met at the Palace of Versailles in France in 1919 to create an official document to outline the specific punishments.

 

This document was called the Treaty of Versailles.

 

Each of the leaders had different desires for what to do to Germany. Prime Minister Clemenceau of France wanted the punishment to be severe so that Germany would not have the strength or resources to start another war.

 

On the other hand, the President of America, Woodrow Wilson, had a 14-point strategy that he believed would create world peace in a way that wasn't too harsh to Germany. 


However, the final treaty was particularly cruel. There were five things in the document that enraged a lot of Germans:

  • Germany had to accept full blame for starting World War One
  • Germany had to pay 6,600 million pounds for starting the war
  • Germany was not allowed an army larger than 100,000 men, and was allowed no thanks, air force nor submarines.
  • Germany had to give up control of a region called the Rhineland, which was an important industrial centre
  • Various parts of Germany were handed over to other countries and Germany was banned from ever joining with Austria (called the Anschluss)

These terms sent Germany into a deep economic crisis in the 1920s, with many people losing jobs and struggling to feed their families.

 

Just when Germany was recovering at the end of the decade, the Great Depression hit, which sent Germans into poverty again.

 

The German people were outraged and blamed the Treaty of Versailles for their suffering.

 

In the hope of finding a solution to their problems, the Germany people voted for Adolf Hitler, who promised to undo the terms of the treaty.


2. Hitler's military aggression

After Hitler became Chancellor of Germany in January 1933, he immediately began ignoring the terms of the Treaty of Versailles.

 

He began increasing the size of the Germany army and investing in the latest military equipment and strategies.

 

In 1934, he officially increased the size of the army beyond the 100,000 limit and created a German air force.

 

The rest of the world were fully aware that these things were occurring, but they didn't intervene to enforce the terms of the treaty, because many people in other countries had come to believe that the treaty was too harsh, and they were willing to give Germany some flexibility.

 

Then, in 1936, Hitler marches German troops back into the Rhineland. This was a clear moment of military aggression, and it may have been a test to see what the rest of the world would do.

 

Even though the rest of Europe was alarmed and voiced concern, no punishments were handed to Germany, and they were allowed to occupy the region again.


Britain in particular didn't respond to Hitler's actions, as it was preoccupied with its own domestic economic and political issues at the time.

 

The British politicians believed that the general public did not want to engage in another costly conflict so soon after the devastation of World War I.

 

Additionally, the British government believed that Germany's actions were not necessarily aggressive, but rather an attempt to restore its own territorial integrity. 

 

Some leaders were sympathetic to the German cause since they thought that the Treaty of Versailles was too harsh and we willing to grant Hitler some concessions if it meant that another world war could be avoided.


Hitler was now more confident that he could expand further, and aimed to take back former German lands that had been taken away after World War One.

 

In March 1938, he marched into Austria, where Hitler forced the Austrian people to vote on whether they would like to join with Germany into a single country.

 

The results of the vote indicated that 99% of Austrians wanted Anschluss, which Hitler then promised to create.

 

"Anschluss" was the term used to describe the annexation of Austria by Nazi Germany.

 

Alarmed, Austrian leaders called on Britain and France to intervene. When these countries sent their concerns to Hitler, he simply promised that the Anschluss was the end of his military invasions, and Europe said that they believed him and did nothing.

 

However, Hitler had no intention of stopping there and, six months, he sent a demand to the neighbouring country of Czechoslovakia to hand back the former German region of the Sudetenland or face invasion.


Short-term causes of WWII

1. Chamberlain's appeasement strategy

The Prime Minister of Britain, Neville Chamberlain, thought that Hitler's threat was too much of a warning to ignore.

 

As a result, he met with Hitler three times during September of 1938 to try and find a way of preventing any future war.

 

Most of Europe still remembered the horror of the First World War, and Chamberlain believed that the world should do anything they could to avoid a repeat of that.

 

Chamberlain believed that he could 'appease' Hitler, which meant that Chamberlain wanted to find a way to make Hitler happy enough that he wouldn't start another war. 

 

Following their meetings, Hitler and Chamberlain signed the 'Munich Agreement', which stated that Hitler would be given the Sudetenland if he promised not to invade Czechoslovakia.

 

Chamberlain was pleased that Hitler had signed a promise to do no further military conquests, while Hitler was pleased that he had been able to take back a former German region.

 

Chamberlain's approach to avoiding the outbreak of another war by satisfying Hitler's territorial demands is known as 'appeasement'.


2. Hitler's invasion of Czechoslovakia

Unfortunately, Hitler had no intention of stopping there. In March 1939, he invaded Czechoslovakia anyway.

 

Despite the promise made to Chamberlain, no European country stepped in to stop Germany.

 

Hitler came to believe that Europe was so afraid of war that he could continue to invade other countries and there would be no punishments.

 

However, the rest of Europe began to realise that fear of war was simply allowing one country to do whatever they wanted, and that something had to be done.

 

When information began circulating that Hitler was now preparing to invade Poland, a number of European countries realised that war might be a real option.


3. Hitler's invasion of Poland

Both Britain and France made a formal declaration to Hitler that if he invaded Poland, that they would declare war on him. Chamberlain was convinced that the clear threat of war would be enough to scare Hitler.

 

Hitler, by contrast, was convinced that Britain and France were bluffing. He thought that his recent experience with these countries showed that they were too afraid of another world war to follow through on their threats. 

 

So, on the 1st of September 1939, German troops invaded Poland. Upon receiving word of this attack, Britain declared war on Germany and the Second World War began.


Further reading