However, there were many other causes for the Second World War, one of which was the German invasion of Poland on 1 September 1939. After the failure of appeasement which had allowed Hitler to gain much land, Britain and France had had enough of giving in to his demands. They anticipated that Hitler was going to invade Poland (as Germany had surrounded Poland on three fronts after taking Czechoslovakia) and Britain and France promised to protect Poland from a German attack. On 1 September 1939 the German army invaded Poland and on 3 September Britain declared war on Germany, shortly afterwards France followed. However, Britain and France would not have gone to war with Germany over Poland if Hitler had not invaded Czechoslovakia and if Hitler hadn’t occupied the Rhineland in an attempt to break the Treaty of Versailles.
The German resentment of the Treaty of Versailles was a major cause of the Second World War. The problem was that the treaty was a compromise that satisfied no one and especially angered the Germans who felt it was unfair. They believed that they were not the only country who started the war yet Britain and France had imposed Article 231, the war guilt clause, upon them. This war guilt clause in the Treaty of Versailles meant that Britain and France could demand war reparations from Germany and these were very high (£6600 million) and future generations would still have to pay and suffer for a war they had never witnessed. Some Germans did not even believe that they had lost the war, expecting peace negotiations instead of the imposed “diktat”. So many Germans grew to resent the Treaty of Versailles and were seeking revenge in another war, this is why many Germans supported Hitler as he promised to abolish the hated treaty. Ofcourse, if Hitler had not come to power in
1933 there would not have been a war as there would not have been an expansion of the German empire and so nothing would have triggered Britain and France declaring war on Germany. Hitler also came to power as Germany was suffering heavily from the Great Depression. Germany had been blamed for starting the First World War, the Germans had to pay the high reparations and its economy was in ruins with many without jobs. The German people by 1933 were willing to follow anyone who promised a better life and to get rid of the Treaty of Versailles and so they followed Hitler.
The failure of the League of Nations to prevent war could also have been a cause as the League was not prepared to use force to keep peace. If the League had not failed then the Second World War would not have started. The League of Nations failed because of many reasons. It had weaknesses such as the fact that decisions had to be unanimous which was impractical and therefore decisions were slow. The League also met infrequently and so there were delays. Also, it was “a league of some nations” which meant that some of the most important nations were absent such as the USSR who joined quite late and the USA who would have strongly helped the League as Woodrow Wilson invented the idea of a peace keeping body. The Japanese invasion of Manchuria showed weaknesses in the League as it was unwilling to act against one of its main members and this invasion of Manchuria set an example for Mussolini and Hitler who both opposed the League later on. Most important was the national self interest of the Great Powers within the League which meant that they were unwilling to act and waste their time and resources when at home they were suffering from the Great Depression and problems such as unemployment. Countries were often reluctant to act unless their own interests were at stake and sometimes even acted against the League’s decisions. For example, rather than proposing sanctions against Mussolini, Britain and France were preparing to carve up Abyssinia, this meant that the League was powerless, “a toothless dog”, as the most influential powers did not commit themselves to supporting the League of Nations. After the Italian invasion of Abyssinia in May 1936 the League lost its reputation and role as a peace keeping body.
However, the main cause of the Second World War was not the policy of appeasement but the German nationalist resentment towards the Treaty of Versailles. The treaty was seen to be very harsh to most Germans and some desired revenge. Hitler promised to abolish this harsh “diktat” and so most Germans gave their support to him in 1933 and when he came to power he expanded the German empire too far which provoked Britain and France declaring war on Germany. If the Treaty of Versailles was less harsh then the Germans may not have sort revenge or if the treaty was even more harsh (which Clemenceau had wanted) then the Germans would not have the military power and resources to fight back. However, the compromise that satisfied no one meant that the German people were angered yet they had the resources to start another conflict which was to be the Second World War.
