What Is the Main Cause of Ww2

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The Treaty also took away many important territories from Germany, stirring ultra-nationalistic sentiments amongst the German republic. They felt that it is only right that they reclaim these territories since it rightfully belonged to them. Bendersky (2007) mentioned that Hitler’s first step to acquiring more living space for Germany would be to abolish the terms of the Treaty by reclaiming the lost territories. (Bendersky p. 182) It was only because the treaty took away Germany’s territories, the people were easily influenced to believe in Hitler’s expansionistic policies. The promises to reclaim and rearm former German territory brought out the ultra-nationalism of the German republic and it made them rather oblivious to the absurdness of the Nazi ideologies. Hitler was therefore able to carry out his foreign policies with the support of the Germans.

Some critics might argue that whether or not he had the support of the Germans, Hitler would still have gone ahead and started the Second World War. However, we have to note that at that point in time, there was resistance against Hitler’s rule. As Bendersky (2007) pointed out, there were thousands of non-Jewish Germans that left Germany on their own accord because they could no longer live under the repressive rule of Hitler. This was one of the most prominent form of resistance against Hitler. (Bendersky, p. 165) If the treaty did not try to cripple Germany by taking away its territories, Hitler might have faced even more opposition. It might have been strong enough to oppose his rule and stop him from starting the Second World War. This is demonstrated once again by Bendersky, as “large segments of the German society had not developed a National Socialist consciousness and were shocked by Nazi anti-semitic violence.” (Bendersky, p. 163) But unfortunately, the Treaty crippled Germany by taking away its territories therefore Hitler was able to inculcate a sense of national pride amongst the Germans leading them to believe and support Hitler in reclaiming these territories.

There are critics that disagree altogether that the Treaty of Versailles was the main cause of the Second World War. Instead, it was the weakness of the League of Nations that resulted in the Second World War. The League of Nations was created to achieve a few goals such as the prevention of war through collective security, using diplomacy and negotiation to settle disputes and disarmament. It was mostly unsuccessful in achieving its goals as a whole. The most notable example to show the weakness of the League would be the Abyssinian crisis. In 1935, Italy invaded Abyssinia. Although the Abyssinian emperor Haile Selassie went to the League to ask for help, all they did was to ban arms sales, which did Abyssinia more harm than Italy. This was as Bendersky(2007) explained in his book, “Fifty-two nations had combined to resist aggression; all they accomplished was that Haile Selassie lost all his country instead of only half.” (Bendersky, p.37) Critics argued that through the Abyssinian crisis, Hitler was thoroughly convinced that the League would be powerless against Germany and this led him to invade Poland.

It is easy to think of working cooperatively in order to prevent a disaster from befalling mankind. However, at that point of time, we have to note that the Allied Powers had very different stances. They could not reach a common consensus and this resulted in the disunity and weakness of the League. Birdsall captured this well in his book as I quote, “No one of the three powers involved in this contest was strong enough to make its will and its policy prevail to break the vicious cycle of conflict.” (Birdsall, p. 28) The Allied powers were not against one another but rather they were for themselves. Every country put its own interests before the interests of the world as a whole. Therefore, the weakness in the League was something inherent in its creation. There was nothing that could be done to have made the League stronger per se.

In conclusion, there are many complexities to the occurrence of the Second World War. The Treaty of Versailles is undeniably one of the main factors which triggered the Second World War. Without the Treaty, the Germans would not have cultivated a sense of hate and resentment towards the Allied powers and the Weimar government. More importantly, it would be much harder for Hitler to rise to power given his absurd and far-fetching ideologies. The German republic would be less vulnerable to his propaganda techniques and his attempt to inculcate ultra-nationalism. Therefore, we can conclude that it was the harsh and vindictive terms of the Treaty that triggered the Second World War.

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