Transcript The Causes of World War Two

The Causes of
World War Two
Long Term Causes
Treaty of Versailles
• Reparations
•
Germany was expected to pay 6, 600 billion dollars for damages
• Disarmament
•
•
Germany was only allowed to have a small military and 6 naval
ships
Disarm the Rhineland
• Territorial Clause
•
land was taken away from Germany and new territory boundaries
were created
Treaty
of
Versailles
• Most Germans began to blame the
Treaty of Versailles for many of the
woes of Germany
• Hitler began to ignore the terms set out
in the Treaty
• remilitarizing Germany beginning in
1934
• moved back into the Rhineland in
1936
Expansion:
• GermanyAnschluss
had been forbidden from
joining with Austria
• In March 1938, Hitler sent troops in
Austria
• Britain and France agreed Hitler could
join with Austria, as long as he
STOPPED there
Expansion
• Hitler did not keep his word, however
• He demanded the Sudetenland region
of Czechoslovakia
• Chamberlain meet with Hitler in
September 1938
• They signed the Munich Agreement,
Hitler could have this area but could not
invade the rest of the country
Why was nothing
done?
• World War One was still fresh in the
minds of many Europeans, it had been
a little over 20 years ago
• Both Britain and France did not want to
have another war fought on European
soil
Policy of
Appeasement
• Many people began to feel the Treaty of
Versailles had been to harsh for the
people of Germany
• Therefore, they felt his “demands” were
fairly justified
Policy of
Appeasement
• Munich Agreement
•
•
viewed as triumph
Chamberlain came home from signing the
agreement and is famously quoted as say
“peace in our time” while waving the
agreement
Policy of
Appeasement
• Hitler disregarded the Munich
agreement and further attacked
Czechoslovakia, in March 1939
• The other world leaders realized that
nothing short of war would stop him
• They agreed to draw the line at Poland
Mackenzie King
• supported appeasement
• meet with Hitler and later noted in his
diary that Hitler was a “sincere man
who had no intention to provoke a war”
• did feel Hitler’s tactics may be a little
“heavy handed
• “No sacrifice can be too great which
can save war”
Canadian Feelings
• Winnipeg Tribune
• “a Germany with her self respected
restored may be the means of
dispelling the war clouds hanging so
so ominously over Europe”
League of Nations
• Established in 1919 as an organization
to help maintain peace in the world
• Not all countries joined
•
member countries were low and could leave
at any time
League of Nations
• Had no power
•
•
all the league could really do was to ask
countries to stop trading with countries
such as Japan or Italy
why would this not be effective?
• Had no army
•
soldiers were supposed to be provided by
member countries
Formation of Axis
Powers
• Rome - Berlin
Axis
• Italy invaded Abyssinia (Ethiopia)
• Italy agreed not to interfere in Austria
and Germany would not come South
• Japan, Italy and Germany
• agree to help each other conquer
their spheres of “influence”
War
• War was on the doorstep of Europe. . .