Why did the second world war break out?

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Becki Murray U4P                                                                                     21/06/2009

Why did the Second World War break out?

After the First World War ended it was called the “War to end all Wars” and few wanted the horrors of the previous years to ever be repeated. Many treaties were signed and the League of Nations was set up to try and stop another war breaking out. However in 1939 war broke out again. There are many different ideas on whom or what is to blame for the breaking out of the Second World War. Historians believe that there was no single reason why it broke out and that there were in fact many causes but that some people and plans were more to blame then others.

Many people would argue that the main reason that War broke was that Germany was very aggressive and without Hitler’s words and actions War would not have broken out again. This I believe to be true.

In his book “Mein Kampf” he writes about how the Treaty of Versailles must be cancelled and land taken from Germany must be returned. This would put pressure on the League of Nations and Europe because breaking the treaty meant almost certainly breaking the peace, meaning War, which Europe would do anything to stop.

He also talked about wanting more land for [his] people in the east (“Lebensraum”) and that the German’s were a “Master Race.” This would scare the rest of Europe as more land meant more power and the only way to get this new land would be through the invasion of another nearby country such as Poland. This was something sure to cause War and something the League of Nations would do anything to avoid.

Hitler was not an “all talk and no action man” however as many would have hoped. Within days of becoming leader he started to build up Germany’s armed forces and though at first did so in secret, he did not try to do so from 1935 even though it was against the treaty of Versailles. This would worry the League of Nations as the treaty was there to stop another war from breaking out and if Hitler went against one order, he could easily break another. It also prepared Germany for War which was something the League of Nations did not want to happen.

However the openness with which this was done would also confuse the rest of Europe. It got people thinking “If it was such an important strategy to start a war wouldn’t he keep it quiet? Maybe it isn’t a bad thing?” This was just what Hitler wanted; to see how the league of Nation reacted and therefore know how much of a risk they would take to stop Hitler. Answer. They would give him his own way to stop a War breaking out.

Hitler also ignored the treaty of Versailles when he “forcefully” joined with Austria. This made Germany bigger and stronger than ever as she now had more men and weapons to help her if a War did break out. It was not only the Treaty of Versailles which Hitler ignored. He went against the Munich agreement to which he had made with Britain promising that he would not invade the rest of Czechoslovakia if he took over the Sudetenland. Hitler later ripped up the agreement and invaded Czechoslovakia.

Hitler’s desire to go to war was also key in the breaking out of the War. He threatened the rest of Europe by building up his army and joining with Austria. He invited a fight when he invaded Czechoslovakia and then Poland but also was out to gain as much as he could in the process. Even when asking for land or “bending of the treaty” to supposedly keep the peace he wanted it to end up with War. He did this because Hitler wanted to make Germany great again by winning a Great War.

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I believe this is the most important point as Hitler was the only one trying to cause the War. Everyone else was trying to stop it ever happening and whether or not these failed, if everyone had wanted peace then people could have talked things through and sorted things out. Hitler did not want this and because of his desire for War he mainly caused the war. He was so aggressive because he had a military strategy in mind. He wanted the rest of Europe to make mistakes and feel threatened as this was something that had been a cause ...

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