Causes of World War II: summary

The causes that contributed to the beginning of the Second World War there were many.

We can highlight the Great Depression, discontent with the Treaty of Versailles, fascist and Nazi ideologies, and finally, Japanese expansionism.

Main Reasons of World War II

great depression

The Great Depression, which triggered the crash of the New York Stock Exchange, marked the failure of four thousand banks in the United States alone.

The country had 14 million unemployed and the national income fell 50%. American wages fell by 40%.

The financial problems of the United States, the hard core of the world economy, were reflected in the rest of the world.

In Britain, which has suffered a 70% reduction in exports, three million workers have been unemployed. In Italy, there were 1.3 million and, in France, 3 million.

Hard-hit, Germany suffered a 39% drop in industrial production and 7 million Germans were left unemployed. Likewise, one of the highest inflations in the history of capitalism was registered.

Treaty of Versailles

Parallel to the crisis, the German government felt the effects of the territorial reordering imposed by World War I and the humiliating directives of the Treaty of Versailles.

at the end of the First World War, the supremacy of world power was divided between Great Britain, France and the United States.

It fell to England and France to dominate hundreds of African and Asian colonies; and to the United States 50% of the world capitalist production.

In contrast, Italy and Japan were dissatisfied with the territorial division.

read more:

1929 crisis
Treaty of Versailles

Japanese and Italian Invasions

Japanese invasion of ChinaJapanese soldiers invade a Chinese city

Japan, with 70 million people confined in a tiny territory, sought to solve the supply of minerals and oil. According to the Japanese, the solution would lie in the invasion of Manchuria and various Chinese territories in 1931.

Italy, under the command of Benito Mussolini between 1922 and 1943, there was an invasion of Abyssinia, today Ethiopia, in Africa.

Diplomatic deals from France and Great Britain were used to try to prevent a new war. The two nations, however, were satisfied with the territorial redefinition and, in addition, dictated the rules in the League of Nations, precursor organ of UN (United Nations).

Without armed confrontation, the agency limited itself to insignificant repressions and, in the case of the invasion of China, only to moral support.

Adolf Hitler and Nazism

Germany, with Adolph Hiltler acting between 1889 and 1945 in power, the country is undergoing a process of strengthening the army, which reached 800,000 men. This number was 700,000 soldiers above the limit defined in the Treaty of Versailles.

The first major annexation by the Germans took place in 1936, when Austria was taken on the grounds of uniting the Aryan race. Then, there would be the annexation of the Sudetenland region, belonging to Czechoslovakia, in 1938.

Reasons for World War II

Hitler informs Emil Hácha, president of Czechoslovakia that Germany would invade his country and it was better not to resist

In Germany, these reasons were combined with the Nazism, which blamed the Jews for the ills suffered by the German people.

Under Hitler's patronage, the war began with the startling invasion of Poland in 1939. In Europe, it would only end on May 8, 1945 and in Asia, with the surrender of Japan in September 1945.

The Second World Cup would end with the death of 45 million people.

Read more about the topic:

  • World War II
  • Beginning of World War II
  • Aftermath of World War II
  • Major Battles of World War II
  • D-Day - World War II
  • Brazil in World War II
  • World War II movies
  • 6 Films about Hitler, the Nazi dictator
  • Questions about World War II

Pilgrim Fathers of the United States

You may have heard of the expression “Pilgrim parents”, which refers to the colonization or “foun...

read more
Berlin Wall: construction, goal, fall, duration

Berlin Wall: construction, goal, fall, duration

O Berlin Wall this is how we know the wall that was built in 1961 and that separated West Berlin ...

read more

Patricians and commoners in the Roman Republic. Patricians and commoners

The establishment of Republic in Pomegranate, probably in 509 a. a., caused that the political po...

read more
instagram viewer