What Caused World War Two?
What Caused World War 2? World War 2 was the largest human conflict in history. Over seventy million people fought, sixty to eighty million people died in the struggle. Decreasing the world’s population by 3%. Many scholars and historians have argued the exact causes for WW2. Most people agree it can all be traced back to Adolf Hitler. Italy’s Mussolini can also be blamed too. In my opinion, World War 2 was started because of the rise of dictators in Germany, Italy, Russia and Japan and their want to expand. Germany’s rise back to power after WW1 can be justified by their anger over the Treaty of Versailles and the rise of the Natzi party. The main reasons why the Germans hated the Treaty of Versailles was because they thought it was unfair.
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Starting in 1937, Japan started invading Asian countries for resources, starting with China. Their excuse was that they wanted to unite all Asian countries under the same empire. Hedley Willmott also explains, “Japan's actions from 1852 to 1945 were motivated by a deep desire to avoid the fate of 19th-century China and to become a great power. Japan’s treatment of the Chinese people was so horrific that the U.S. ended our trade relations with them in 1941.” The Japanese saw this as an act of war that led them to bombing Pearl Harbor just a few months later. Gale’s World War 2 page qoutes, “Pearl Harbor attack, (December 7, 1941), surprise aerial attack on the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor on Oahu Island, Hawaii, by the Japanese that precipitated the entry of the United States into World War II. The strike climaxed a decade of worsening relations between the United States and Japan. Japan’s invasion of China in 1937, its subsequent alliance with the Axis powers (Germany and Italy) in 1940, and its occupation of French Indochina in July 1941 prompted the United States to respond that same month by freezing Japanese assets in the United States and declaring an embargo on petroleum shipments and other vital war materials to Japan.” Imagine if Iraq stopped trading oil with us. That was what it seemed like to the Japanese. Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor was the main reason we joined the war. Japan's foolish attack on America was not thought foolish at the time. America seemed like a small threat to them because of our relatively small military during WW1. What they didn't know was that from the ashes of the Great War we rose as a world power with new weapons, tanks, planes, and
Starting in 1937, Japan started invading Asian countries for resources, starting with China. Their excuse was that they wanted to unite all Asian countries under the same empire. Hedley Willmott also explains, “Japan's actions from 1852 to 1945 were motivated by a deep desire to avoid the fate of 19th-century China and to become a great power. Japan’s treatment of the Chinese people was so horrific that the U.S. ended our trade relations with them in 1941.” The Japanese saw this as an act of war that led them to bombing Pearl Harbor just a few months later. Gale’s World War 2 page qoutes, “Pearl Harbor attack, (December 7, 1941), surprise aerial attack on the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor on Oahu Island, Hawaii, by the Japanese that precipitated the entry of the United States into World War II. The strike climaxed a decade of worsening relations between the United States and Japan. Japan’s invasion of China in 1937, its subsequent alliance with the Axis powers (Germany and Italy) in 1940, and its occupation of French Indochina in July 1941 prompted the United States to respond that same month by freezing Japanese assets in the United States and declaring an embargo on petroleum shipments and other vital war materials to Japan.” Imagine if Iraq stopped trading oil with us. That was what it seemed like to the Japanese. Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor was the main reason we joined the war. Japan's foolish attack on America was not thought foolish at the time. America seemed like a small threat to them because of our relatively small military during WW1. What they didn't know was that from the ashes of the Great War we rose as a world power with new weapons, tanks, planes, and