Topic > Nothing Could Save the World from World War II

World War II broke out on September 3, 1939 after Hitler ignored demands from Britain and France to withdraw from Poland. This is believed to be one of the main reasons for the outbreak of World War II, but the possibility of war had built up during the 1920s and 1930s after World War I for other reasons which can be considered to arise from government failures . allies or German aggression. After World War I, a treaty called the Treaty of Versailles was written, but it was deemed unfair by the Germans and too weak by the Allied forces. One element of the treaty was the formation of the League of Nations, developed to be a peacekeeping organization. It excluded Germany but could not prevent aggression since it had no army. The Allies had also been soft on Germany, angered by the Great Depression and the Treaty of Versailles as a whole. This was called pacification and when it ended it was the reason for the outbreak of war. The aggressiveness of the German people and their leader Hitler, along with the failures of the Allies, appear to be involved in the outbreak of World War II, but the Great Depression also played a role. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get Original Essay In 1919, after World War I, 32 countries met at Versailles and made a treaty called the Treaty of Versailles to make sure there would not be another war and influence the future of Germany. The people of Europe wanted lasting peace and this was supposed to ensure that this happened. However, many people thought that Germany should be forced to pay heavily for the damage it had caused. American President Woodrow Wilson presented a 14-point plan. The main points were the creation of the League of Nations and disarmament. The Germans expected the peace treaty to be based on Wilson's 14-point plan. However, Britain and France were unwilling to base the peace agreement on these 14 points. Instead, the treaty was to be much harsher than the Germans had hoped. The Germans thought they were punished too severely, told what to do and could not argue. They were not happy and were humiliated. Their navy was small, they could not join Austria (Anschluss), and reparations were high, leaving Germany with little money. This public anger helped Hitler come to power as he promised to abolish the Treaty of Versailles and make Germany powerful, which the people wanted. However, France did not think the treaty was strict enough. The Treaty of Versailles can therefore be considered one of the main factors that led to the war. Hitler had several goals he wanted to achieve and would do anything to achieve them. Once he came to power with the support of the German people, he was able to try to realize these goals. Hitler's goals were to get rid of the Treaty of Versailles because he thought it was embarrassing for Germany, unite the German-speaking peoples, gain lebensraum (which was taking the land in the East that had been taken with the Treaty of Versailles), dominate the 'Europe with a larger Germany including Auschlass (joining Austria), invading countries and recovering the military. These goals were written in his book “Mein Kampf” where he said he would use violence if necessary. All these incidents meant that Hitler broke the Treaty of Versailles in many ways and broke international law. This would lead to war as he acted deliberately and thought nothing of anyonehe would do nothing about it. He was responsible for these deliberate actions and resorted to hostility to achieve his goals. This meant that when the Allies decided to do something, war was inevitable. Hitler's violent actions should have been addressed by the League of Nations as it was designed to be an international peacekeeping force. Unfortunately, it failed to achieve its goals, which were to get countries to work together to prevent wars and encourage disarmament. All members were expected to respect each other's territory and help resolve disputes. The League could not enforce its decisions because it did not have an army and some countries did not join. This meant they could ignore the responsibilities that came with membership. The league's reputation was damaged by some international agreements signed without the league's input. These include the Locarno Treaties (France and Germany) and the Kellog-Briand Pact (65 countries including Germany, France and the United States). This showed that those nations had little faith in the league and wanted to resolve disputes on their own. Germany, therefore, could see how powerless the league was and thought it could take advantage of it. America was not part of the League of Nations as the Supreme Court did not allow it, even though it had been part of Woodrow. Wilson's 14-point plan. America wanted to strengthen its defenses and recover from the Great Depression. This was known as “Isolationism” and did not end until the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941, forcing America into World War II. Isolationism made the League of Nations even weaker as some countries such as Germany and Japan were not afraid that America might attack them or impose economic sanctions. However, the attack on Pearl Harbor demonstrated that this isolationism was failing and America had to act. Two more events occurred where the league failed badly. This reflects the failure of the Allies as they failed to organize the league very well and failed to convince other strong nations, such as the Americans, to join it. The Manchurian Crisis was the time when Japan invaded Manchuria. The League of Nations was too slow to respond, partly because of the distance between Manchuria and Europe, but also because it did not have its own army. This made it difficult to go against the Japanese. As a result, Germany and Italy made an agreement with Japan. Japan was then expelled from the championship. The Japanese did not leave Manchuria. Meanwhile, Mussolini saw an opportunity to take a risk and invade Abyssinia (now known as Ethiopia), especially when the League of Nations had done little to stop Japan. Thus the Abyssinian crisis caused further difficulties for the league which it mismanaged and Italy got away with invading Abyssinia. Once again, a member of the league did not follow the rules he agreed to abide by. At this time Britain and France tried to bring Mussolini and Italy to their side in the Hoare-Laval Pact. This failed because it was supposed to be secret but was leaked. This showed that even Britain and France didn't think the league was of any use as they did everything in secret. This was another example of how member countries looked out for their own interests before those of the league. Italy then decided to go over to Germany's side. This made Germany stronger as it had a new ally and the League of Nations looked really weak and unable to resist. The League's greatest weakness was the fact that it was established by the Treaty of Versailles. The Treaty was hated, especially by the Germans, which.