Causes of WWII - GLonEagjAT
The Great Depression:
The Great Depression began with the crash of the stock market in October of 1929.
The period before World War II was a time of great economic suffering throughout
the world called the Great Depression. Many people were out of work and struggling
to survive. This created unstable governments and worldwide confusion that helped
lead to World War II. It was a time of financial downfall
One of the consequences of the Great Depression was the dictatorial governments
with extreme political views and military ambitions came to power in Germany, Italy,
Spain and Japan. The Depression also distracted the democratic powers of Britain,
France and USA and made them pay more attention to affairs at home rather than
watch international developments.
The Great Depression began on October 29, 1929 when the U.S. Stock Market
crashed. Reasons for the Great Depression include buying stock on margin,
overproduction of goods, and under consumption due to lagging wages. The Great
Depression resulted in High Unemployment, High inflation, Home and farm
foreclosures, and business failures. The Great Depression spread around the world.
Some countries looked for strong leaders to solve their countries problems due to
the depression. This led to the rise of totalitarian dictators like Hitler and Mussolini
who took aggressive action against the countries around them.
The weakness of the league of nations:
The League of Nations was founded in 1919 as a result of the Treaty of Versailles
and the end of World War I. The League of Nations was an international
organization, headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, created after the First World
War to provide a meeting for resolving international disputes (disagreements).
Although it was able to help end the first World war it didn’t go as far when
preventing WWII. Firstly, the league of nations didn’t have a military force of its own
to back up its efforts to keep peace and halt aggression. It was weakened from the
outset, after the world's strongest democracy USA refused to become a member. It
was the failure of the league of nations that led to WWII. The League of Nations
was supposed to stop aggressor countries from attacking other countries. However,
it failed to do so. It did nothing when Japan invaded Manchuria in 1931, and it also
did not do anything when Italy invaded Ethiopia in 1935. Because of the league’s
failure to do anything during these two aggressions, Germany decided to test the
organization itself—it remobilized the Rhineland, a territory in which it was not
supposed to have any troops. In 1936, German soldiers were ordered by Hitler to
march into the Rhineland with empty rifles, and to retreat if the French army
attacked. Once again, France and the League of Nations did nothing when they were
supposed to do something, and Hitler’s plan became successful. Had the French
and the League of Nations told the Germans to retreat from the Rhineland, Hitle...
