Causes of WWII

By Ben Marchesan

WW2, like any war, had a variety of factors that caused its occurrence. The most profound of which
is undoubtedly the Treaty of Versailles, put in place after World War 1 to make sure that Germany
wouldn’t be able to retaliate. From this stemmed the other two most prominent causes, Political
collapse and Ideological extremism. While these two factors had an immense deal to do with World
War 2’s beginning, they would not have occurred without the Treaty of Versailles. Thus the Treaty is
the primary cause, as without it, none of the other factors would have arisen to begin with.

The foremost cause of WW2 was, without question, the Treaty of Versailles and the harsh, unfair
treatment it put on Germany. Put in place after World War 1, the Treaty stated that Germany would
have to pay back reparations from the War in full, putting an immense strain on the German
economy. To combat this, the German government began printing money en masse, meaning that
inflation ran wild, and the German dollar became near worthless, costing literal wheelbarrows of
money just to buy simple items like bread. Another crippling feature of the Treaty was it’s
restrictions to Germany’s military. The treaty ordered Germany to strip back its army and left with
just 100,00 men ready to fight. They were left with a mere 36 boats of different description and a
navy no larger than 15,000 men. They also gave up significant amounts of Land, and allied troops
were stationed there, to make sure Germany didn’t try anything. The arms trade was also blocked to
Germany and they were prevented from manufacturing chemical weapons, tanks, armoured vehicles
and military aircraft. This lead to Germany being crippled, both in Military and Economy. The
German people were angry and the Government under Hitler wanted to make Germany the power it
had once been. This lead to Germany slowly beginning to rebuild its military, against the terms of
the treaty, and slowly take back some of its annexed land. The allied forces, not wanting to start
another war, allowed him to do what he would, provided he didn’t invade Poland. Eventually he did
and War was declared. It is hard to argue that if Germany hadn’t been crippled so much by the
Treaty that they would have taken the same course of action, thus it seems clear that the main
cause of ww2 was the Treaty of Versailles.

The Great Depression played a large role in shaping Germany through the 1930s, the years preceding
world war 2. The great depression originated in the USA when stock prices fell in September 1929, and
spread worldwide when the stock market collapsed on October 29, 1929 (Black Tuesday). Worldwide
GDP fell approximately 15% between its beginning and 1932 (less than 1% fall was seen during the
recession of 2008). Certain countries were on the road to recovery by the mid-1930s but most of the
world was still feeling the effects until World War 2 began. Perhaps the largest impact the great
depression had on world war 2 was its effect on Germany. The depression meant that Germany no longer
received help in paying their debts from America. Unemployment skyrocketed and the government,
cautious of inflation due to the hyperinflation of the early 20s, was losing support. This allowed
governments like the Nazi party and Communist groups to rise up, and eventually the Nazi party took
over Germany under Hitler. Hitler then worked to reduce unemployment, and successfully dropped the
numbers a significant amount by cutting wages and seizing control of labour unions. This resulted in a
world where the German people had a lot of faith in Hitler. After all, a man who could pull Germany out
of the world’s greatest ever depression could surely right the wrongs done to Germany in the Treaty Of
Versailles right? Pair this with Hitler’s impressive public speaking abilities and masterful propaganda
campaign and he had the hearts of the German people in his hands, meaning he was free to do whatever
he wanted. Pre-Great depression, the Nazi party was a fringe group sitting at about 2.6% of the popular
vote. After the effects took hold, the Nazis saw a significant increase to voters and eventually enough to
seize power, leading quite clearly to world war two.

Ideological extremism was a leading cause of World War 2, most famously in the Nazi party but also
throughout Europe on both sides of the War. Based off of the authoritarian rule Mussolini had over Italy,
Hitler took over Germany with an extreme form of Fascism. Hitler took it somewhat further, with his
belief of a perfect race and his extreme ethnic cleansing. This lead to Hitler’s invasion of Poland as well as
other places, and eventually his Holocaust. The change to Fascism in Italy lead to the Axis between Rome
and Berlin and later the alliance between Germany and Italy. Ideological extremism was also to be seen
amongst allied countries. Under Lenin Russia had become a socialist, communist nation and later Stalin
put the country in a staunch anti-Germany and anti-fascist position. Meanwhile, anti-imperialist hate for
the USA was commonplace in Japan and led to the Pearl Harbour attack, an effort to remove the US’
forces from Asia, which, while provoked by the US, gave them an excuse to enter the war. Thus it’s clear
that, on all sides of the War, extreme beliefs were prevalent.

WW2 was caused by a number of different causes, but chief amongst these is the Terms imposed on
Germany in the Treaty of Versailles, from which stemmed economic collapse and a political climate fit for
Hitler’s Nazi party to rise to power. The Treaty made Germany dependent on America, which in the great
depression crippled Germany, allowing Hitler to exploit the anger of the downtrodden Germans with his
radical fascism and rise to a position from which he would start world war 2.