The Many Causes of WWII

Over time many different theories about the causes of World War 2 (WWII) have been established. The two most credited of these theories have been compiled into this essay. The causes outlined in this essay is firstly the Nazi Germany foreign policy, secondly is Britain's policy of appeasement.

The first cause of WWII was the foreign policy of Nazi Germany and its leader Adolf Hitler; the policy had three general objectives:

1. Free itself from the political commitments of the earlier Weimar government.

2. Prepare Germany for war (effectively breaking the Treaty of Versailles [June 28, 1919])

3. Test the Allies response to the German expansionist foreign policy.

This aggressive foreign policy led to German troops occupying of the Rhineland on the 7th of March 1936, which the British and the French leaders agreed to, but not without serious concern, due to this land being demilitarised under the Treaty of Versailles.

Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini in Munich, Germa...

Mussolini (left) and Hitler sent their armies to N...

Adolf Hitler portrait, bust, 3/4 facing right.

Due to the horrific memories of World War 1, the British and the French decided to assemble a policy of appeasement, hoping that Hitler would eventually be satisfied. After Germany moved troops into the Rhineland, it claimed some of the three million German-speaking people in the Sudetenland (on the German boarder of Czechoslovakia) were being prosecuted. This lead to Britain and France under the policy of appeasement, giving Sudetenland to Germany who promptly took it and the rest of Czechoslovakia in the March of 1939. This was an obvious sign of aggression from Hitler's Nazi Germany and to Britain and France this revealed that Hitler would not stop until he had claimed most of Europe. Of course Germany did not do all this on it's own, it had allies such as Italy and Japan, who also shared the dream of having an empire. The Italians because they wanted to...