Which Country Was Most To Blame for WWII - Italy, Germany or Japan?

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Phil Scott 10V                February 23rd, 2003

Which Country Was Most To Blame for WWII – Italy, Germany or Japan?

World War II began on the 3rd September when Britain and France declared war on Germany after they had invaded Poland. Ever since the end of WWI Europe had been divided into different camps. The ideas of peace during the 1920s and 30s had been designed to eliminate the gaps between the camps. Unfortunately, this never worked and so Europe was still divided into two main camps when war was declared. Britain and France in Western Europe were the leaders of one camp. And they faced the other European powers, which consisted of Germany and Italy in the other camp. There were also many smaller countries in both camps including Croatia, Bulgaria and Slovakia all members of the Anti-Comintern Pact and therefore included with the Axis Powers.

The main members and founders of the Anti-Comintern Pact, Germany, Italy and Japan were all seen as the ‘bad guys’ because of their aggressive foreign policies. All three countries’ foreign policies involved attacking other countries for resources or land and this is why they were separated from other European countries and branded ‘aggressive’.

Italy was the first country to pursue their aggressive ways in Europe when Mussolini turned them into a Fascist country in 1922. Because of this, they are often seen as the beginning cause to WWII, which isn’t necessarily true. Italy alone didn’t do anything bad enough to start a war, but when you put Italy’s, Germany’s and Japan’s actions together then you get the reasons for WWII. Italy being a Fascist country wasn’t a problem, until he started killing his oppositions and taking land by force that wasn’t his. Had the League of Nations worked properly, then Mussolini would probably have been stopped after the Corfu incident, but as it stood he was given what he wanted and allowed to think that using force was acceptable. Most of the incidents that occurred in Europe in the 1920s and 30s could have been solved if someone had done something different or if something else had been made to happen, but none of them were because countries either didn’t want to get involved, couldn’t afford to get involved (even more so after the depression) or just couldn’t be bothered. Mussolini continued to use force in Europe and else where to get what he wanted, and he was just allowed to do so for fear of causing another war.

What the world leaders didn’t see was the rise of the Nazi Party in Germany led by Adolf Hitler, who adopted a very similar style to that of Mussolini’s after seeing how successful he had been. Once again you could say that had Mussolini been stopped earlier, he wouldn’t have inspired Hitler and therefore the same thing may not have been started in Germany. As it happened, Mussolini and Hitler became very good friends, because of their similar interests, and signed several treaties together. These included the Rome-Berlin Axis, the Anti-Comintern Pact, and the Pact of Steel. They also both helped Franco in the Spanish Civil War, and mutually agreed that Germany could take control of Austria. The last agreement that they made, the Pact of Steel, stated that if one of the two countries went to war, then the other had to go to war to help them, which would ensure that any war became a European war, if not a global war. All of these pacts were bringing war closer, but they were a result of both countries, and not just one. It takes two people to sign a pact, so they are both responsible for the consequences of it, and one cannot be more so than the other.

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        Making pacts wasn’t the only thing that Germany did during the run up to WWII. Hitler also pursued his foreign policy aims, left the League of Nations and started to openly re-arm. One of his foreign policy aims was to tear up the treaty of Versailles, so naturally he would do the opposite to what it said. In the 1920s, Hitler didn’t do anything because he didn’t have any power; the only thing he could do was to rally public support for his Nazi Party. This is exactly what he did, and in 1933 he was elected as German Chancellor. ...

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