France and Britain declared war on Germany on September 1939 which resulted in World War II (History on the Net, 2013). Germany invaded Poland and this is what trigged the war. However the causes of World War II were more complex.
Four main causes started World War II. The causes were the Treaty of Versailles, the actions of Hitler, failure of Appeasement, and failure of the League of Nations. The Versailles Treaty was the settlement between the Allied Powers and Germany. It ended the World War I, however after World War I Germany thought that they were going to have a treaty based on Wilson’s 14 points (History on the Net, 2013). Instead Germany was hammered with reparations, disarmed, were blamed, and lost territory. The treaty is said to have been the groundwork of the Nazi rising in Germany and the eruption of World War II.
Germany suffered harsh treatment and Hitler’s rise was a result of being treated wrong. Communism was rising and the British and French were very concerned about the rising of Communism. They thought that a stronger Germany would prevent the spread of Communism to the West. The Allies pushed Germans out of Africa and invaded Sicily (Kishlansky, Geary, & O’Brien, 2008). Politicians in France and Britain realized that Germany had a right to rearm and this led to the failure of appeasement.
Not all countries belonged to the League of Nations. Not belonging to the League of Nations resulted in not having an army, no real power, and could not act quickly. All this resulted in the failure of the League of Nations. In the 1930’s the League of Nations showed weakness and it was used against them (History on the Net, 2013). The League of Nations had two problems to deal with before the Western European troubles and it failed at both in Abyssinia and Manchuria.
After WWII Germany was devastated and disgraced because of the atrocities that were carried out such as the Holocaust. Germany was not