World History 9-10
Q: Could World War II have been avoided?
World War II, I think, could have been prevented in two ways leading up to the war, if people realized how their actions would cause reactions. The war could have been prevented if the Treaty of Versailles wasn’t so harsh on the Germans. Without this motivation to gain back Germany’s pride and confidence, Hitler probably wouldn’t have rose to power. Even if Hitler was still angry, and looking for revenge he wouldn’t have had as many followers or as much people to support his argument. Majority of people wouldn’t be so irritated with the circumstances and wouldn’t be looking for a person to point there fingers at to blame for their issues. Also, later on in Hitler’s rise to dominating new lands, he violated several contracts, the Treat of Versailles as well as the Munich Conference. The Treaty stated that Hitler was not allowed to rebuild his army nor take over any lands, which he did both of. Along with violation of the Treaty of Versailles, Hitler signed a contracted saying he was allowed to keep the Sudetenland in compromise that he vowed not to take over the rest of Czechoslovakia or any other lands. Even though Hitler signed the contract, he took over the rest of Czechoslovakia anyway because he recognized how easy it was to gain land, and how weak the French and British looked by appeasing to him. With this being said, the League of Nation should have placed a hard punishment for violating both Treaty of Versailles and the Munich Conference, in order to prove to Hitler they were serious, and weren’t just playing around. By giving in to him easily they showed Hitler that he had the power and he was capable to do whatever he wished with it. If the French and British reacted more strictly to Hitler when he did those actions, then Hitler may have realized that they were more competition then he expected, and it would warn him not to do anything further preventing mass destruction