Tracing the Origins of World War II: How did the World War 2 Start?

World War by No 5 Army Film & Photographic from Wikimedia Commons

Tracing the Origins of World War II: How did World War 2 Start?

The last thing anyone wanted after World War I ended in 1918 was a conflict of even greater magnitude. So why did the world enter into battle again only 20 years later to fight World War II?

True, the German invasion of Poland in 1939 led to war declarations from France and the United Kingdom, which officially began World War II. That incident, however, was merely the last straw in a chain of events. Tension had been developing over a number of other economic and political issues for years.

Let’s take a look at how World War 2 started. 

1. The Germans wanted to seek revenge because of the Treaty of Versailles

Treaty of Versailles by The British Government from Wikimedia Commons

The signing of the armistice at Compiègne on November 11, 1918, in the midst of internal political upheaval fueled by a civilian environment of battle exhaustion and famine, had left German combatants feeling betrayed. Left-wing Jews were among some of the prominent agitators at the time, which stoked the conspiracy notion of Jewish Bolshevik betrayal that subsequently gained enormous traction as Hitler created the psychological foundation for preparing Germany for another war.

The victorious nations and their people were fervently hoping to prevent another World War after the tragic experience of the First. The Versailles Treaty’s harsh punishment provisions, imposed at the French government’s request, left Germany’s people feeling victimised and her economy in ruins.  Nationalistic Germans were therefore becoming more receptive to the suggestions made by anyone who offered the potential to undo the humiliation of Versailles.

2. The National Socialist Party’s tragic ascent to prominence was made possible by the Great Depression

You can always count on economic depression to foster conditions favourable to civic, political, and global turmoil. Hitler’s early career was aided by the severe hyperinflation that Germany experienced in 1923–1924.

Despite experiencing recovery, the 1929 world financial crisis showed the Weimar Republic’s frailty. The ensuing Great Depression in turn contributed to the conditions—such as widespread unemployment—that made the National Socialist Party’s catastrophic ascent to power possible.

3. Hitler took advantage of the Versailles Treaty

Hitler capitalised on the Treaty of Versailles and the dents in German pride that it and the country’s military loss had left by reviving an inflated sense of national pride. This was supported, in part, by “we and them” rhetoric that associated the German nation with Aryan supremacy over all other races, with particular contempt reserved for the Slavic, Romany, and Jewish “Untermenschen.” As the Nazis desired a “final solution” to the “Jewish question,” this would have terrible repercussions for the duration of their rule.

Hitler laid out his plan to unify Germans in Europe in a rebuilt area that encompassed Austria in Mein Kampf, which was published in 1925. He then secured enormous expanses of land outside of this new Reich that would ensure self-sufficiency. He specifically stated in May 1939 that the pursuit of the “Lebensraum” to the east, which included all of Central Europe and Russia up to the Volga, was tied to the impending war.

4. Unlikely diplomatic agreements were forged

After World War One, Europe underwent a significant transformation, with players on the far right and left claiming significant political territory. Hitler recognised Stalin as a significant potential foe, and he was concerned about Germany’s potential territorial trap between the Soviet Union in the east and a Bolshevik Spain, along with a leftist French administration, in the west. He, therefore, decided to get involved in the Spanish Civil War to support the right-wing presence in Europe while also testing the efficiency of his new air force and the Blitzkrieg strategies.

During this period, Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy became closer, with Mussolini eager to uphold European rights and secure Italy’s position as the first country to profit from German expansionism. In November 1936, Germany and Japan ratified the Anti-Comintern Pact. Following the Wall Street Crash, the Japanese developed a growing mistrust of the West and had similar aspirations to the Nazis in the east of Europe to conquer China and Manchuria.

When the Nazi-Soviet non-aggression pact was struck in August 1939, it appeared to be the most improbable of diplomatic arrangements. By doing this, the two powers effectively divided the ‘buffer zone’ that they believed to exist in Eastern Europe and created the conditions for the German invasion of Poland.

5. America was pulled into war after the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings

Atomic bombing by George R. Caron from Wikimedia Commons

Franklin D. Roosevelt, the president of the United States, was followed by the leaders of Britain and the Netherlands in ordering the freezing of Japanese assets following Japan’s seizure of French Indo-China in July 1941. Now, a lot of Japanese people felt that the only option between economic collapse and war with the US and European colonial powers was economic disaster. A resolute administration led by General Hideki Tojo took office in October 1941, and plans were immediately prepared to strike a crushing blow at the Americans.

Japanese carrier-borne aircraft attacked the US Pacific Fleet at its base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on December 7, 1941—a date that will go down in history as “a date which will live in infamy.” The Americans were utterly taken off guard despite the warnings. Seven other warships were lost or damaged, putting eight battleships out of commission. While the Japanese only lost 29 planes, more than 2,500 Americans did. Importantly, the American carriers were at sea, allowing them to evacuate and preventing the base from going offline. Congress proclaimed war on Japan the day after it had attacked colonial holdings belonging to the British and Dutch.

6. There were too many peace efforts that failed

Locarno by HJPrieß from Wikimedia Commons

There were attempts to establish a lasting peace in the 1920s. The League of Nations was founded in 1920 to serve as a platform for international conflict resolution. The League’s only real tools were persuasion and a range of moral and financial sanctions that its members might impose however they saw suitable. The major maritime countries decided to restrict their navies in accordance with a set ratio during the Washington Conference in 1921–1922. The Locarno Conference (1925) led to an arbitration agreement between Germany and Poland as well as a treaty guaranteeing the German-French border. 

All of the Great Powers, excluding the USSR, and 63 other nations agreed to the Kellogg-Briande Pact (1928), which forbade the use of war as a tool of national policy and promised to settle all conflicts “by pacific means.” The signatories had already agreed to exempt “self-defence” conflicts.

7. Fascism was on the rise which led to more military use

Mussolini and Hitler by Wikimedia Commons

One of the declared goals of the World War I winners was “to make the world safe for democracy,” and postwar Germany chose a democratic constitution, as did the majority of the other states that were restored or established after the war.

However, military, patriotic authoritarianism known by its Italian name, fascism, seemed to be the way of the future in the 1920s. It offered itself as the only sure bulwark against communism and claimed to serve the needs of the populace more efficiently than democracy. In Italy during the interwar years of 1922, Benito Mussolini formed the first fascist government in Europe.

8. The appeasement policy really backfired

The European countries were exhausted after World War 1 and wished to avoid another conflict. Countries like Britain and France tried to maintain peace by “appeasement” when aggressive nations like Germany and Italy started to occupy their neighbours and build up their armies. This meant that instead of attempting to stop Hitler, they worked to make Germany and Hitler pleased. They hoped that by accommodating his requests, he would be satisfied and there wouldn’t be a war.

Sadly, the appeasement strategy failed. Hitler merely became more audacious as a result. He had more time to assemble his troops as well.

9. No one put Hitler in his place when he sent soldiers to the Rhineland

By 1938, Hitler had already violated a few of the articles of the Treaty of Versailles. In 1936, Hitler dispatched troops into what was intended to be a demilitarized zone in Germany’s Rhineland. Hitler was “marching into his own backyard,” according to Britain, which did little. This demonstrated that Britain was not overly concerned because they perceived the Rhineland as German territory in any case.

Nazi Germany and Austria were joined in 1938. The Anschluss is the name given to this. Once more, this was a violation of the Versailles Treaty, but neither France nor Britain took any action. As a result, they were unwilling to risk starting a war because they perceived Austria as a German-speaking nation.

10. Hitler invaded the remaining Czechoslovakia, violating the Munich Agreement

Hitler violated the Munich pact in March 1939 by invading the remaining Czechoslovakia. Britain and France were unable to attempt to defend them since Czechoslovakia had already been quickly taken over. Chamberlain saw the futility of appeasement. He said that Britain would go to war to defend Poland if it was invaded.

As a result of the Munich Conference, the Soviet Union, under Stalin, believed that Britain and France were attempting to push Hitler east. Stalin perceived a threat from the German expansion and Hitler detested communism. The Nazi-Soviet Pact was made by Stalin with Germany on August 23, 1939, to allow himself more time to rearm. They also decided that they wouldn’t start a war with one another and would both attack and colonise parts of Poland.

Hitler occupied Poland on September 1. Germany was told to leave or Britain and France would start a war. Hitler persisted with the invasion because he didn’t think Britain would honour its promise to defend Poland. When Chamberlain declared war on Germany on September 3, 1939, it caught him off guard.

The Second World War has started.

You can also read 10 Brutal Facts about World War II