Why did Britain go to war in 1939?

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Why did Britain go to war in 1939?

 In 1939, Britain declared war on Nazi Germany. There were of course many different reasons for this, both in the long term and in the short term. In the long term, The Treaty of Versailles, signed at the end of World War One had succeeded only in angering Germany, as it made her feel weak and powerless, in addition to economically ruining her with the expense of rearmament. This allowed the rise of Hitler and therefore Nazism in Germany as a solution to the problems, without which the Second World War would almost certainly have been avoided. Secondly, Britain had not been strong enough to prevent this rise of Hitler, or to prevent him taking over Europe. They had not prevented Hitler from breaking the Treaty, which in itself eventually led to War. Chamberlain’s policy of Appeasement had failed dismally, only succeeding in allowing Hitler to think that he could do as he pleased with Europe. As well as Britain’s apparent weakness against Hitler, the League of Nations was also not strong enough to hold Hitler back. However, this essay aims to argue that the two most important reasons that Britain eventually went to War in 1939, are firstly, Germany’s invasion of Poland, which forced Britain to take action, and secondly that Hitler’s aggressive action eventually had to be combated, he could not be allowed to take over Europe.  By 1939, Britain had abandoned all hope of keeping the peace through Appeasement and negotiation. Hitler had to be stopped, and War was Britain’s last resort.

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        The Treaty of Versailles was signed in 1919 by Britain, France and America to decide on what to do with Germany following World War One. The treaty was extremely harsh on Germany, ordering reparations and huge territorial losses in order to make her weak. This caused huge anger within Germany, the ideal situation for the rise of a dictator who seemed to have all the answers to save Germany. Therefore the Treaty of Versailles can be seen to be the earliest cause of the Second World War, as it led directly to the rise of Nazism, and a hunger for ...

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