Heikal 1
Hossam Heikal
Part 1: Analyze (a) the long-term causes and (b) the short-term causes, of the Second
World War.
The common misconception that the Second World War was caused by only Hitler or his invasion of Poland does not stand true. Wars with such a drastic effect on the state of the world cannot be evaluated solely on one cause or event. The Second World War was being caused since the end of the First World War; the animosity created and the peace settlement contributed to the growing sense of resentment in Europe and constitutes one of the longterm causes of the war. This essay will aim to analyze both the long-term and short-term causes of the Second World War.
The long-term causes of the Second World War are often overlooked when analyzing the war even though they are as important as the immediate and short-term causes. The first long-term cause of the war was The Treaty of Versailles. The treaty divided Europe into camps either devoted to upholding the stipulations of the treaty or to destroy them. This division of Europe created animosity in Europe, especially coming from Germany and
Austria. Versailles was also the main reason for the surge in German nationalism; many
Germans deemed the treaty and whole peace settlement to be too harsh on them. This was used by Hitler in order to rouse the people and justify his claims.
The Second main long-term cause of the war is Hitler and his ambitions. In his book
Mein Kampf , Hitler outlines his plans for Lebensraum and his wishes to expand in the east.
Hitler believed that Germany was becoming overpopulated and that it needed more living space in order for the Germans to live comfortably. The Hossbach Memorandum further supports this; it was a memorandum that recorded the plans made by Hitler to rearm for war and prepare the economy for war. He believed that 1943 would be the moment for action.
That eventually France would be distracted by a civil war and this would allow him to attack
Czechoslovakia. Or that eventually France and Italy might go to war and he would then be

Heikal 2 able to attack Czechoslovakia. Therefore, it seemed like Hitler was already planning for a great war from 1938.
Overy argues " No single factor was more important in explaining the breakdown of the diplomatic system in the 1930s than the world economic crisis." The Great Depression and the crash of the US stock market had great repercussions in Europe. The United States was heavily investing in Europe at the time; furthermore, the Dawes Plan was greatly supporting Germany’s economy while Britain and France were reliant on American loans.
When the stock market crashed, American banks soon started asking for repayment of loans.
This caused widespread problems in Europe; many European economies were severely in debt and were starting to panic. Hitler used the Great Depression in order to show people the effects of Capitalism and its perverse effects. The Great Depression also led to the breakdown of the diplomatic system as countries were now to busy with their internal affairs and so had to abandon external ones. For example, during the Manchurian and Abyssinian crises, Britain and France would not and could not interfere as they had too many problems with their economy. This caused countries to become uninterested in resolving global affairs.
Arguably one of the main causes of the war was the failure of the League of Nations to fulfill its expectations. The Manchurian Crisis was the first true test to the League of
Nations; it showed the League’s inability to function well and its lack of machinery that makes it capable of being the arbitrator of peace in the world. It also provided an incentive for the other leaders, such as Hitler and Mussolini to attack, and attempt to defy, the international community without any fear of a reaction. Moreover, the Abyssinian Crisis proved to be the “final nail in the League’s coffin”. Britain and France did not want to take any real action against Italy, apart from sanctions, and refused to stop trading in oil with Italy.
The League’s failure to act showed Hitler its weakness and that it would not take any real action against an aggressor. Hitler put that to the test in 1936 through the remilitarization of

Heikal 3 the Rhineland. Britain did not support France going into war over the Rhineland and felt that
Hitler was right. This began the policy of appeasement later to be more prominent.
The more widely know causes of the war are the short-term causes; these include the
Munich Conference, and failure of diplomacy. Firstly, Hitler had promised in the Munich
Conference that he would not make any more demands. However, he later betrayed his promise by occupying Memel in Czechoslovakia and later asking for Danzig. Before that,
Britain and France were actively participating in appeasement. They believed that by granting
Hitler what he wanted, they would be able to keep him satisfied and deter war. After Hitler invaded Czechoslovakia and set his eyes on Poland, Britain created Guarantee of Poland against German aggression. This meant that if Hitler were to invade Poland, Britain and
France would come to aid Poland. The guarantee of Poland signaled the end of appeasement.
The second short-term cause is the Franco-Anglo-Soviet Negotiations; after the carelessness of these negotiations, Soviet Russia found that Germany would be more appealing as an ally.
This led to the Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact. Finally, the Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression
Pact, in which Germany and Russia vowed to not attack each other during war, contained a secret article. The article entailed their plan to carve up Poland, this meant war was inevitable. Then in September 1939, Britain France declared war.
In conclusion, the causes of the war cannot be simply summarized with regards to short-term causes. There were many causes of the war that caused animosity in Europe and caused the collapse of the Versailles system.