Causes Of/Events Leading Up To World War II
Introduction
Contrary to the hopes of President Woodrow Wilson, the Treaty of Versailles that ended
World War I did not create a “just and secure peace”. Germans saw nothing fair in a treaty that
blamed them for starting the war. Nor did they find much security in a settlement that stripped
their country of territories they had long seen as German. Similarly, the Soviets resented the
carving away of parts of Russia to create an independent Poland and the nations of Finland,
Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia.
In addition, the peace settlement did not make the world “safe for democracy” as Wilson
had hoped. At the end of the war, new democratic governments emerged in Germany, Austria,
Italy, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, Romania, and Greece, but these nations had lacked democratic
tradition. Moreover, their newly elected leaders were expected to immediately improve the
lives of their citizens. The Versailles Treaty provided no measures to help these new democracies, which were expected to pay off huge war debts while trying to deal with widespread
hunger, homelessness, and unemployment.
While some citizens in these new democratic nations embraced their new freedoms,
many others were skeptical of this type of government. “Why is our government ineffective in
handling our problems” was a common sentiment. Unable to cope with these difficulties, the
new democracies collapsed one by one in the 1920’s. In country after country, dictators seized
power and threw out the elected leaders because they promised a return to economic prosperity.
Many people supported these uprisings. While some of these dictators were simply content to
collect taxes and keep order, a few had greater ambitions.
As disturbing as this trend was in Europe to America during the 1920’s, most Americans
believed that the United States should remain neutral in foreign matters. Their increasing sense
of isolationism, combined with an ineffective League of Nations, a rise in aggression in the
1930’s, and an effort to appease those nations who sought to acquire territory by force were
factors in leading the world to war by 1939.
Isolationism
“Why should the United States become involved in other nations’ political affairs when
we have an optimistic economic future?” Many Americans shared that viewpoint. “We helped
to achieve peace, it is not our responsibility to maintain it” and “We’ll become part of
European turmoils if we enter the League of Nations” were frequent comments made by
isolationists--people who believed in remaining neutral and preferred to handle their own
problems. Prosecuting individuals who held radical political viewpoints, passing laws which
limited immigration, and increasing tariffs all expressed the idea of America “looking out for
itself” during the 1920’s.
Demobilization of the armed forces after World War I led to widespread unemployment
throughout Europe. At war’s end, cities lay in ruins, and trenches and shell holes scarred rural
farmland. Wharves, railroads, and roads needed to be restored or rebuilt. By 1922, the United
States and Japan assumed control of world markets previously dominated by Great Britain and
France. The economies of these two nations eventually recovered, only to experience a major
depression in the 1930’s. During this decade, Great Britain and France believed it was in its
best interest to solve their own economic problems and stay out of military alliances.
An Ineffective League Of Nations
During the 1920’s, leaders in Western Europe were hopeful that a new era in
international relations would dawn. They looked to the League of Nations to keep the peace.
The League was based on the concept of collective security--that is, an organized community
acting together to preserve peace and solve international disputes. Although the League
maintained no military, it utilized four methods to punish member nations: the breaking of
diplomatic ties, imposing economic sanctions, ordering a naval blockade, and commanding a
military invasion.
In the 1920’s, the League was successful in using the first three strategies to settle a
number of minor disputes, and its efforts culminated in the 1929 Kellog-Briand Pact.
Sixty-two nations, including the United States, signed the pact that “renounced war as an
instrument of national policy”, although there was no means to strictly enforce this agreement.
Lurking in the shadows, however, was the increasing military strength of Italy, Germany, and
Japan. Members of the League were unwilling to directly confront these nations, nor were they
motivated to fully investigate their intentions. Moreover, Great Britain and France did not
consider the rise of these nations as a threat to their national security, since neither country’s
policies directly affected them. When these countries initiated aggressive campaigns to claim
territory, the League simply used its first tactic to punish them. Its member nations were
unwilling to take drastic actions to stop aggressive acts. By 1938, Germany, Italy, and Japan
simply left when threatened by action from the League of Nations.
Aggression
Beginning in the 1920’s, the military gained increasing power in the Japanese government. This nation had slowly developed into an industrial power and engaged in imperialism. By
1932, Japan had conquered Korea and assumed control of Manchuria. China, which claimed
ownership of Manchuria, appealed to the League of Nations for help. When the League ruled that
Manchuria was part of China, Japan withdrew from the League. In response, Henry Stimson,
the Secretary of State, issued a statement that the United States did not recognized forced
territorial acquisitions.
Meanwhile, the Italian Fascist Party, led by Benito Mussolini, focused its policy on
improving Italy’s economy by increasing taxes, reducing government spending, and
suppressing labor organizations. Ethiopia, one of the few independent nations remaining in
Africa, became the object of Mussolini’s ambitions. In December 1934 Italy invaded Ethiopia.
In response, Congress passed the First Neutrality Act, which forbade American companies
from selling military equipment to any nation at war, and the Second Neutrality Act, which
forbade American banks from lending money to any nation at war. When Japan invaded China
in July 1937, FDR did not invoke these acts. Furthermore, responded in a speech in October
that the United States and its allies have a moral obligation to quarantine, or stop, aggression
worldwide. Many American citizens were outraged that American neutrality was being called
into question.
Germany, led by Adolf Hitler, initiated a massive defense project designed to rebuild its
armed forces, pursue his goal of united Germans who lived in other nations, and expand its
borders. In 1936, Hitler ordered the Rhineland, a region that bordered Germany and France,
to be occupied and remilitarized in defiance of the Versailles Treaty. His generals warned him of
Germany’s military unpreparedness in the event of a British and French invasion, but these two
nations simply voiced their objections. By 1937, Germany’s military strength rivaled the
British. In summer 1938, Germany annexed Austria. The League of Nations, led by Great
Britain and France, warned Germany it did not have the right to invade a sovereign, or free,
nation. In addition, Germany demanded the Sudetenland from Czechoslovakia, a region
formed in 1919 as part of the Versailles Treaty. A significant number of Germans lived in this
area. Diplomats from the Soviet Union offered to defend the Czechs with British and French
assistance, but their offer was rejected by these two nations.
Appeasement
A conference was between Germany, Italy, Great Britain, and France was held in
Munich on September 29, 1938. Great Britain and France wanted to avoid war because they
were dealing with various social problems, their citizens demanded peace, and the leaders of
these two nations believed Germany would not ask nor take more land. Great Britain and France
accepted Hitler’s demand the Sudetenland be annexed to Germany and promised Czechoslovakia to
aid it against future aggression. They appeased Hitler, or preserved peace by yielding to the
demands of an aggressor.
Upon his return to London, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain announced
“I believe it is peace for our time” to a cheering crowd. Winston Churchill, a member of
Parliament, led a small but vocal group who believed that Hitler’s goal was to conquer Europe.
He feared that Germany would invade Czechoslovakia, which it did in March 1939. Chamberlain
resigned, Great Britain and France did not come to the assistance of Czechoslovakia, and
Churchill became the new prime minister.
The Beginning Of World War II
Great Britain and France prepared for possible war and declared their intention to
protect Poland from German aggression, sensing it would be Hitler’s next move. In summer
1939, the Soviet Union, led by Josef Stalin, suggested an alliance with these two nations against
Germany. Great Britain and France, refused, citing their objection to its communist form of
government and his insistence that Poland, Finland, and the Baltic countries of Estonia, Latvia,
and Lithuania become part of the Soviet Union in return for their help.
During this time Stalin also met with Hitler. In August 1939 he and Hitler secretly
signed the Nazi-Soviet Pact, in which both countries agreed not to attack one another and to
divide Poland between them. Even though both leaders despised one another, it made perfect
sense. Hitler wanted an assurance of Soviet neutrality to prevent a two-front war while he
battled France and Great Britain. Stalin envisioned assuming more territory and preparing his
nation for its eventual, inevitable military encounter with Germany, which invaded in 1941.
The crisis that led to World War II involved Poland. Hitler insisted that Danzig be
returned to Germany. This city, located near the Baltic Sea, was part of a narrow strip of
territory called the Polish Corridor that cut through Germany. This area was controlled by the
League of Nations to ensure Poland access to the Baltic Sea. On September 1, 1939, Germany
annexed Danzig and launched a massive military strike on Poland. The world had never seen
anything like it and learned a new word--blitzkrieg, or lightning war, which involved
bombings on major cities followed by an assault by mechanized divisions. Great Britain and
France kept its word to defend Poland and declared war on Germany. In response, Congress
passed the Fourth Neutrality Act, which allowed American businesses to sell military
equipment to warring nations only on a “cash and carry” basis.