Cause Of WW2 Essay
Why did war break out in Europe in 1939?
There are many factors that supposedly caused war to break out in Europe of 1939. This essay is will take a look at long term factors such as the shortcomings of Versailles and the weakness of the League of Nations as well as short term factors such as the rise of fascist leaders, the Wall Street Crash and appeasement.
Firstly, one of the main long term causes of World War 2 (WW2) was the Treaty of Versailles (TOV) and the unresolved issues that followed after World War 1 (WW1). The TOV created massive instability in Europe, especially Germany as it created resentment in Germany. The entire German population resented the TOV and the TOV was commonly referred to as ‘dictated peace’. Furthermore, the treaty took away 25,000 square miles of land and Germany lost 7 million citizens to other member state. This caused mass hatred for the treaty and the authors of it which created support for nationalist parties such as the Nazi Party or the Communist Party whose campaign was strongly based on hatred for the TOV. The conditions that the TOV created amongst the people in Germany helped the Nationalist parties to rise to power as the Nazi Party used the negative effects of the TOV to win votes.
In support of this, J.M Keynes, a famous economist, stated that the Treaty of Versailles’s clauses put pressure upon the Germany economy which threatened the stability of the whole European economy. Arguments such as the one Keynes said were greatly significant in Britain and USA as it contributed to the policy of appeasement. Keynes shows that the conditions that were created from the TOV is one of the main reasons why war broke out in 1939.
However E.Mantoux, a French economist, argued that the productivity level of Germany’s industry in 1930’s shows that in 1921 the reparations that Germany were faced, were way within Germany’s capacity to pay. Despite this, the Treaty of Versailles made Europe (especially Germany) a very hostile and
There are many factors that supposedly caused war to break out in Europe of 1939. This essay is will take a look at long term factors such as the shortcomings of Versailles and the weakness of the League of Nations as well as short term factors such as the rise of fascist leaders, the Wall Street Crash and appeasement.
Firstly, one of the main long term causes of World War 2 (WW2) was the Treaty of Versailles (TOV) and the unresolved issues that followed after World War 1 (WW1). The TOV created massive instability in Europe, especially Germany as it created resentment in Germany. The entire German population resented the TOV and the TOV was commonly referred to as ‘dictated peace’. Furthermore, the treaty took away 25,000 square miles of land and Germany lost 7 million citizens to other member state. This caused mass hatred for the treaty and the authors of it which created support for nationalist parties such as the Nazi Party or the Communist Party whose campaign was strongly based on hatred for the TOV. The conditions that the TOV created amongst the people in Germany helped the Nationalist parties to rise to power as the Nazi Party used the negative effects of the TOV to win votes.
In support of this, J.M Keynes, a famous economist, stated that the Treaty of Versailles’s clauses put pressure upon the Germany economy which threatened the stability of the whole European economy. Arguments such as the one Keynes said were greatly significant in Britain and USA as it contributed to the policy of appeasement. Keynes shows that the conditions that were created from the TOV is one of the main reasons why war broke out in 1939.
However E.Mantoux, a French economist, argued that the productivity level of Germany’s industry in 1930’s shows that in 1921 the reparations that Germany were faced, were way within Germany’s capacity to pay. Despite this, the Treaty of Versailles made Europe (especially Germany) a very hostile and