The Second World War 1939-45

Causes

The humiliating Versailles treaty: The treaty had filled the Germans bitterness, anger and the spirit of
revenge. The terms of the treaty like disarmament, loss of territories and the War Guilt Clause instilled
anger among the Germans. Thus, when Hitler came to power in 1933, he reversed the terms of the
treaty by rearming which made him aggressive. Thereafter, he invaded the territories which were lost by
Germany until his invasion of Poland which led to World War 2.

League of Nations: The organization dismally failed to take action against aggressors especially Japan
and Italy when they invaded Manchuria and Abyssinia respectively. Its failure to deal with aggression
encouraged other aggressors like Adolf Hitler of Germany to take advantage and embarked on an
aggressive foreign policy which gave birth to World War 2. For Instance, Hitler`s invasion of Poland in
September 1939.

Hitler`s foreign policy: He had made it clear from the onset that the aims of his foreign policy were to
be based on conquering territories which Germany had lost after World War 1. As a result, he invaded
countries like Czechoslovakia and Poland in order to re-unite the German speaking people and to create
a lebensraum for the Aryan race. Therefore, his aggressive foreign policy forced countries like Britain
and France to declare on Germany to stop him hence World War 2.

The Appeasement Policy: Describe the Appeasement Policy. (8)

This was a policy followed by Britain and France. It was aimed at avoiding war or buying peace at all
costs against aggressors such as Japan, Italy and Germany. It stated that instead of confronting
aggressors, negotiations should be held with them in order to meet their demands provided they were
justified. Hitler took advantage of the policy as he argued that Germany had been harshly treated at
Versailles and therefore, the appeasers had no objections to Hitler`s demands especially rearmament
and occupying lost territories like the Rhineland and Austria. Hitler went too far and invaded Poland in
September 1939 forcing Britain and France to declare war on Germany and hence World War 2.

Invasion of Poland 1939: At the Versailles Treaty, Germany lost Danzig and the Polish Corridor to
Poland. In April 1939 Hitler demanded that Danzig must be returned to Germany which would allow him
to build a rail road across the Polish Corridor and the fact that some German speaking lived there. The
British persuaded the Poles to surrender Danzig to Hitler which they refused. As a result, Hitler ordered
his soldiers to attack Poland on the 1 st of September 1939. France and Britain responded by declaring
war on Germany hence the Second World War.

The Nazi-Soviet Pact 1939. Describe the Nazi- Soviet Pact of August 1939. (8)

It was an agreement between Adolf Hitler of Germany and Joseph Stalin of Russia. The aim was that
when Hitler invaded Poland, Russia would remain neutral and the two would share Poland. The other
aim was that Hitler wanted to face war from one front, the western front being France and Britain.
However, the agreement was bound to fail as the two leaders did not trust each other due to their
ideological differences being capitalism and communism. As a result, Germany did attack Poland in 1939
forcing France and Britain to declare war on her hence World War 2.