The world was plunged into World War II on September 3rd 1939,
with the German invasion of Poland. But the true causes of the war had come
from the underlying threats of Nationalism , Militarism, and Imperialism that
developed first in Italy and then Germany. Perhaps the most significant cause
of the second world war was the policy of Appeasement used by the League
of Nations and the strongest democracy’s in Europe, the French and the
British Empire. Although the first world war had ended in victory for the
Allies and post - war objectives by the victorious nations had been met and
successfully maintained, these underlying causes created the longest and
bloodiest war the world had seen.
Nationalism was the cause that instituted the Fascist styled governments
that shook Italy and Germany in the late 1920’s and early 1930’s.
Nationalism made the people hunger for the power and prestige these two
nations had before and during the first world war. The German and Italian
peoples were sick and tired of squabbling coalition governments that failed to
do anything for the most part. The communist threat that was growing in
Europe also presented an opportunity for the German and Italian people to
become more nationalistic, and the people soon looked for a strong leader
who could achieve national order, revive their derailed economies and build
up National prestige. Hitler had planned for his nationalistic, racist brand of
fascism for the German people in his short prison stint in the late 1920’s.
Entitled Mein Kampf , his book outlined his plans to dishonor the Versailles
treaty, Bring back German nationalism and power, and to unite his “Supreme
race” through war. “Oppressed territories are brought back to the bosom of a
common Reich , not by flaming protests, but by a mighty sword”(Document
#1). Hitler’s plan to unite the German race through war may have sounded
radical and impractical at the time of it’s publishing, but the prospect of...