Was WWII Inevitable?

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Was WWII inevitable? If so, why and when?

If not, when and how could it have been avoided?

World War II was inevitable for a multitude of reasons. The foremost reason was the existence of three respective, powerful aggressor states (Germany, Italy, and Japan) with imperial and ideological ambitions that would not hesitate to use force to achieve their goals. Germany lost much of its territory and was subject to numerous military and legal restrictions as a result of the Versailles Treaty imposed on them by the victors of the First World War. Germany's leader at the time, Adolf Hitler, viewed the treaty with contempt - as a humiliation of German national pride. British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain signed the Munich Pact with Hitler in 1938, conceding part of Czechoslovakia to Germany. This policy of appeasement not only was ineffective in deterring further Nazi aggression - it encouraged it. According to Nye (2008), "he [Prime Minister Chamberlain] did not think Czechoslovakia was worth war and he knew Britain was not ready for war." (p. 101) Columbia University political science professor and author Robert Jervis (1978) cited British General Chief of Staff during the war Sir