In the 1930’s there were two incidents that really tested the League of Nations, both proving its malfunctioning. These incidents were the Manchurian Crisis in 1931 and the Abyssinian Crisis in 1935. Both incidents involved large, powerful countries invading weaker countries basically for excuses and small unnecessary reasons. In both cases, the League proved incapable and inadequate, as the countries in the League were more concerned about their own domestic problems. In the Manchuria incident Britain and France had excuses, as Japan was far away they didn’t want to lose Japan as a trading partner. Neither country had the resources to overtake Japan. The only two that did was the U.S.A and U.S.S.R yet neither was in the League. However, in the Abyssinian event, Italy was on the League’s doorstep yet the League still did not act. Britain and France didn’t want to upset Mussolini as they viewed him as a possible ally against Germany. They had a pact with Italy saying they would prevent Germany from taking over Austria (Stresa Pact). Sanction weren’t successful, as it would affect many country’s industries (e.g. U.K – coal). Whilst these sanctions were still discussed, the British and French foreign ministers, Hoare and Laval, put up their own plan. They decided to give two thirds of Abyssinia to Mussolini in return for him to call of the invasion. Laval told the British that the French would not support sanctions if they did not agree to this. However, news of this leaked to the French press, which resulted in the firing of the foreign ministers. Nerveless the damage was done and the sanction talks as well as the League itself had lost its momentum. These two incidents, just gave Hitler more confidence in his actions as he realized the League was incapable of solving disputes. It had never yet used military power and chances were it never would.
In 1936 Hitler began his policy of reclaiming lost German territory, starting with Czechoslovakia. The Sudetenland was part of Czechoslovakia taken away from Germany at the end of World War 1. It was home to over 100,00 Germans. At first Hitler demanded a bit of the Sudetenland, but gradually asked for more and more. The world leaders agreed to Hitler’s demands that caused Czechoslovakia to feel cheated and betrayed as they had lost their land. The British agreed to this, and where pleased as Hitler had signed a contract saying there will be no war and no more land would be taken (Appeasement Policy). To Hitler however this was merely a piece of paper. France and Britain however, had their own clarified reasons why they came up with the Appeasement. Firstly, they were not ready for another war and standing up to Germany meant just that. It gave them more time to get ready. They also did not want a repeat of the Great War. They wished to avoid another war at all costs. An argument Britain used was that Hitler was standing up to Communism. Many people thought that the next war would be against the USSR not Germany and Hitler. Many viewed Hitler as a buffer against the threat of spreading Communism. Many also agreed with the fact that the Treaty of Versailles was in fact unfair. They assumed that once Germany got what they wanted they would become a peaceful nation again. Britain’s other worries were its economical problems and empire. It was not certain that Britain’s Empire and the Commonwealth states would support a war against Germany. Britain and France were still suffering from the Depression and had greats debts as well as unemployment. The USA was determined not to be dragged into another war and so there was no guarantee that Britain could face Germany without USA’s help.
However these points still do not justify the Appeasement. It encourages Hitler to be aggressive as each gable gave him confidence to take a bigger risk. It also gave time for Germany’s army to grow strong. In hindsight we can see that the Germany army was growing much stronger than the British or French one. The Appeasement also scared the USSR as it showed them that France and Britain would not stand in the way of Germany’s plans of expanding eastwards. Too much trust was put into Hitler’s promises, which often proved to be false. The Appeasement was based on the mistaken idea that Hitler was trustworthy. The Appeasement brought an end to the Treaty of Versailles. After this Hitler took over the rest of Czechoslovakia. As Czechoslovakia was not a territorial loss due to the Treaty of Versailles this was an invasion and not merely revenge. Hitler had broken the appeasement policy, as he did not believe France or Britain would do anything to stop him. France and Britain however, realized that the appeasement had not worked and stated that if any more territory was taken, they would declare war on Germany.
The Appeasement Policy helped lead to the Nazi-Soviet Pact. Stalin watched, as Hitler grew more powerful regaining old territories and taking over new ones. After the Munich Agreement, Stalin realized France and Britain were powerless against Germany’s new power. He also new that as Hitler continued his conquer of Eastern Europe, the USSR was on his list as Hitler hated Communism. Stalin was still prepared to talk with France and Britain about an alliance against Hitler yet when the three countries met in 1939, Chamberlain was reluctant to commit Britain. From Stalin’s point of view France and Britain made it worse by giving Poland a guarantee to defend it if invaded. Negotiations continued yet Stalin received visits from the Nazi foreign minister Ribbentrop, who talked about a different deal; a Nazi-Soviet Pact. This agreement was signed on August 1939 by the two archenemies, Hitler and Stalin. They agreed not to attack one another and divide Poland between them.
This agreement gave both Hitler and Stalin more time to prepare for the “inevitable” conflict, as they knew that by the end of the war they would be enemies again for none believed in the “pure” intentions of the other. This agreement was good for Stalin for he wasn’t convinced that France and Britain were strong and reliable allies against Hitler. He would be receiving half of Poland as well as the Baltic States, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Finland.
This agreement worked well for Hitler, as he knew Britain and France would support Poland and so he needed the support of Russia so that he wouldn’t have to fight on both fronts as he did in World War 1. It also meant that at least in the near future Russia would not attack Germany.
When Hitler invaded Poland in 1939, Britain and France finally declared war on Germany. On September 1st German troops attacked Poland from the west whilst on the 17th of September, the Soviet forces attacked from the east, and Poland soon fell. On the 2nd of September though France and Britain kept their promise and declared war on Germany. This gamble for Hitler was one gamble too many as he soon realized he had started a war against the wrong opponents. It was not the war Hitler had on mind.
Although it was Hitler’s actions, which lead to the war, many other factors were important in making the war happen. Starting from the end of the First World War, we have the Treaty of Versailles. If this treaty had not been so harsh on Germany, the German people might not have had such a strong desire to gain revenge and abolish it. A slightly more reasonable Treaty might haves saved the lives of millions of innocent people. In my opinion, the ‘trigger’ to the Second World War resulted in the beginning of the 1930’s with the Manchurian and Abyssinian crisis. If the League had not been proved to be incapable of solving world issues, Hitler would have not gained all his confidence. Another problem was the self-interest of leading countries such as Britain and France. The only thing Britain was concerned with was its colonies whilst France only cared for its own collective security. It did not matter if other weak and guiltless countries were harmed on the way as long as they were safe. If Britain and France co operated a bit more in the direction of solving world disputes the Word might have never came into being. Another major problem was America. From the very start of the League, America was the missing keystone of the organisation. Everything was going reasonable well until the Depression occurred and America isolated itself. If the USA decided to join in the League’s business things might have turned out very differently as America had the resources and power to make a difference.
France and Britain had too much trust in Hitler. They let him go too far and trusted a bit of signed paper (Appeasement). If they had acted sooner e.g. when Hitler went into the Rhineland, they could have prevented the war. The USSR was also partly responsible for the war. Germany might have been scared to act alone without the support of the USSR. It would have meant they would be fighting on two fronts again. If the USSR had not supported Germany then but stayed with the allies, it might have delayed or even stopped Hitler’s attack.
These are all factors that speeded up and made the Second World War possible. However, we cannot forget that Hitler’s actions were the main reason the war had occurred and these factors mentioned merely added onto this not the other way round.