The Great Depression came shortly after the end of the first world war. After having paid back the reparations to Britain and France, Germany didn’t have a lot of money left. The stock market crashed and therefore meant that money was worthless. As well as that, Germany didn’t have a lot of chance of recovering as there wasn’t a way to make money easily. This was because they had lost some of their best coal and iron fields to France who were still being paid reparations through these fields. Unemployment swept the nation and the economic problems had become so bad that children were playing with worthless banknotes on the streets. I think that this factor was quite important but not very, as it, along with other problems, had caused Hitler to come into power. I would say that this was the 6th most important reason. When matters became even worse by the collapse in world trade, many people saw Hitler and his new party as a glimmer of hope and turned to them for help. This helped to start the war as it was Hitler’s initial rise to power. Many people had voted him into power because of his promises to make Germany great again and end the depression. Without the depression, Hitler may have never come into power and there may never have been a World War Two.
One of the final factors before World War Two could start was Hitler’s foreign policy. In the foreign policy, Hitler overturned the treaty and made Germany strong through rearmament. By making Germany strong again, Hitler was then able to take on small countries to gain more and more power, then larger countries, and eventually start a war. I think that this factor was the least important, because even though it played a big part in the start of the war, it was only made possible by some of the other factors. These factors were appeasement and the weakness of the League of Nations.
A factor that posed a very big problem on Britain and France was US isolationism. Although this was a problem for them, it was an advantage for Germany and Hitler. It played a very big part in Germany’s ability to start a war. Many of the affects of US isolationism were in the League of Nations. I think that this was the third most important factor as it made the outbreak of war easier for Hitler, as did the weakness of the League of Nations.
The second most important factor was the weakness of the League of Nations. The reason for the weakness was partly because of US isolationism. As the US didn’t join the League of Nations, many important countries didn’t join either. As a result, the League of Nations had no control whatsoever of how to deal with situations like these. The weakness of the League of Nations and US isolationism meant that Hitler could easily overpower them and could have started a war much earlier. It also meant that Germany had more control and were in a better position as the League of Nations didn’t have an army. The purpose of the League of Nations was to solve problems between countries and preventing war by talking about it. However, this method was not very effective as it failed in making Hitler stick to the Treaty of Versailles. It also kept talking things over and making Hitler keep false promises when it was obvious that all Hitler wanted to do was fight. This made a second world war break out as they couldn’t control anything well, which links to my next point, appeasement.
Appeasement was a factor that contributed greatly to the power of Hitler by the beginning of the war. It was because of appeasement that the League of Nations was so weak. I think that it was the 5th most important factor as it was because of this that Hitler thought he could get away with it and start a war. The League of Nations gave into Hitler too easily and showed him that they were weak. Because of appeasement the League of Nations could show their weakness and lack of control. The appeasement in fact encouraged war. It made Hitler think that no-one dare to stop him. This encouraged him to go further and further, until in the end he went too far. The appeasement of Sudetenland led Stalin to make the Nazi-Soviet Pact, because he believed he could not trust Britain.
The Nazi-Soviet Pact was a factor that made Hitler powerful and gave him the ability to start a war. Due to appeasement form Britain and France, Hitler was able to create a pact with the USSR. I think that this factor was quite important as it gave Hitler the reassurance that he had enough power to attack Poland. However, I don’t think that this is hugely important in relationship to the other factors. Therefore I would say that it is the seventh most important factor.
Overall, I think that World War Two broke out in 1939 because the Germans had finally built a powerful enough army and hatred for Britain and France. I think that the weakness of the League of Nations and the Treaty of Versailles were the root causes of the outbreak of war as all or most of the other factors stem off those two. In conclusion, I think that war broke out because of the overall weakness of Britain and France, as they allowed Hitler to go too far.
