Hitler also saw the weakness of the League of Nations & felt that it would not be able to thwart him because of 2 the leagues big failures occurred in quick succession. Firstly in 1931, when Japan invaded the Chinese province of Manchuria, the League of Nations took no action after a long delay. The reason cited was that china was too far. The effect of this was that it made the League of Nations seems weak. The second failure of the League of Nations was when Italy invaded the Abyssinia. The league was undermined by the actions of Hoare & Laval & also by the fact that league members gave more precedence to national interest & could not agree to appropriate sanctions. This made the League of Nations seem powerless and irrelevant to Hitler.
Moreover, the great depression of the 1930’s promoted more extreme nationalist, right-wing dictatorships who preferred protectionism when it cane to trade. Further more, the depression led to international rivalry & distrust instead of co-operation. This encouraged militaristic governments to build-up empires by force (e.g. Japan & Italy). Furthermore to reduce unemployment caused by the depression, many countries began rearmament & increasing the size of their armies. This gave countries the potential to fight a war and made the world a more dangerous place. In addition, the isolationism of the USA may have lead to the war because as if was economically the most powerful nation, it could have used its economic influence to deter aggression. moreover, the USA could use it's enormous amount of resources to equip it's army with the latest weapons & send it to Europe to ensure the will of the League of Nations was kept.(however, the use of it's economic influence had the potential to cause a militaristic backlosn against the USA as demonstrated by the Japanese assault on Pearl Harbour.) If the USA had done the above, aggression would most probably have been deterred.
In 1936, Hitler began his policy of reclaiming lost German land and uniting all German speakers in a 'greater Germany'. Appeasement from the British & French allowed him to get away with acts such as re-militarisation of the Rhineland (in 1936, when the German army was ordered to retreat on any resistance from the French). Another example of appeasement was giving Hitler the Sudetenland. This made Hitler confident that Britain & France would do nothing to stop him even if he took over more territory (even) after the Munich agreement. The British and French followed this policy because; public opinion was against was, they did not want another as they still remembered the deaths caused by the Great War. Furthermore, they felt that nazi Germany was a good buffer against communism. Moreover, the British & French armies were not get ready for war and, in addition to this, public opinion in Britain was that the treaty of Versailles was too harsh on the Germans.
Furthermore, the Ribentrop-Molotov pact (Nazi-Soviet Pact) caused the outbreak of war because Hitler could then invade Poland & not have to fight a war against the USSR in the east as well as fighting the British, French & their allies in the west. This enabled Hitler to fight a war one front only. This made Hitler confident and made him think that he had increased chances of winning the war. The pact was signed by the USSR because it gave them extra territory e.g. Baltic States. Furthermore, it would allow them to get ready for war, i.e. allow the time to re-arm, to an extent that could challenge the Germans.
When Hitler invaded Poland, war broke out in Europe because Britain & France had promised to fight Germany if Germany invaded Poland. Hitler invaded Poland because firstly, he felt that the British & French would oppose him again. Secondly, Hitler may have felt confident enough to fight the British & French, as he now had taken-over. Also, he was by then in possession of the Skoda arms factory, the best weapons factory in Europe at the time.
In conclusion, it can be said that although it was Hitler's actions which lead to war, other factors, most notably, the policy of appeasement & the 'isolationism' of the USA. If appeasement had not occurred, Hitler would not have had the confidence to take-over land in Eastern Europe. If Hitler had been prevented from taking the Rhineland, he may not have gone onto takeover Poland. It can be said that Hitler only exploited the situation in his favor, and one gamble too many by him lead to the war.
