Why did the Second World War break out in 1939?
The Second World War started for many reasons but the most important were: the treaty of Versailles and the negative impact it had upon Germany, the foreign policy of Adolf Hitler and what did the other countries do to stop Hitler’s actions.
The treaty of Versailles was a very important factor for the break out of war. The treaty took away land from Germany and gave it to Poland, France and Britain. This land included the colonies that Germany had in Africa that was given to France and Britain. It made Germany pay huge reparations that left them in a crisis, and Germany was already in a crisis due to the war which made the germans felt it would stop them from recovering. There were a lot of unemployment and whole families suffered from constant hunger. They had to take blame for starting the war and they did not feel it was fair because it was Serbian terrorist groups that trigger it by killing the Archduke Franz Ferdinand. The treaty also ordered the reduction of the German army to only 100,000 men and it limited its navy to six battleships. The Germans didn’t feel this was fair because it meant that they were nearly helpless if someone tried to conquer them and they felt bitter because the other countries didn’t had to disarm. They also had to demilitarize the Rhineland. The Rhineland was the border between France and Germany and it was demilitarized in order to protect Alsace-Lorraine. The big three had different opinions on whether how to punish Germany. Woodrow Wilson (America) thought that Germany should be treated fairly because if it was punished too harshly they would want revenge. America did not suffer as much because of the war due to the fact that the war was not fought in America and they joined the war in 1917 so they did not had such many casualties as the other countries. Lloyd George wanted also a fair settlement but the British people, as Georges Clemenceau (France), wanted revenge because all of the soldiers killed in battle and all of the harm they had done to their country. The Germans became vengeful because overall they did not see fair the treaty of Versailles and the sate it had left the country and they had their revenge with the war.
