Five Main Causes of World War 2 and Its Aftermath

Introduction

As history speaks itself, “the war to end all wars” couldn’t end any conflict completely. Instead, it gave rise to many more complications and ambitions. It directly led to World War II, the Treaty of Versailles being the catalyst. The Paris Peace Conference, despite having pure intentions of restoring peace, couldn’t contain the resentment of the Germans within. Article 231 of the Treaty, known as ‘the war guilt clause’, put Germany in the position of sole perpetrator of the war, bearing all the blame. Heavy war reparations as punishment, military disarmament and surrendering of its territories proved to be costly. This causes of world war 2 essay will examine the core causes and effects of this historical event. 

Causes of WW2

Rise of Fascism

One of the main goals after the World war I had been the establishment of favorable conditions for democracy. After the 1920s, there were nationalistic waves of militarism and totalitarian regime, popularly known by its Italian name, fascism. The concept appealed to the people, showcased itself more promising and effective than a democracy. Its major strength was acting as a shield against communism, which was very much popular at the time. Benito Mussolini was the first Fascist ruler, to establish a dictatorship in Italy in 1922.

German Aggression

Adolf Hitler started with his expansionist policy with the conquering of Austria in March 1938. He got the support of Mussolini, while the British and the French also gave in to his claim of Austria being its internal matter. The U.S couldn’t act because it had passed a neutrality law, prohibiting it from providing any assistance. In 1938, Hitler had its eye on Czechoslovakia, and to suffice his desires, the then British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain helped culminate the Munich Pact, by which Sudetenland was given to Hitler on the promise of not taking away any more of Czech territories. However, by 1939, Hitler seized the remainder of its land. British similarly promised protection to Poland against Hitler’s threats, France already having a defense treaty signed to help.

Failure of the League of Nations

An international peace-keeping organization was formed in 1919 called the League of Nations. It was intended that the members would resolve all their disputes peacefully and open-mindedly. However, not one negotiation was successful, and no invasions could be prevented. Since all countries didn’t have their own capable armies, it was expected that member nations would avoid conflicts, but it was all a failure. The powers of the organization were limited to persuasion and no decision was binding.

Formation of Axis Coalition

Germany was under the rule of Hitler and his German National Socialist (Nazi) Party, the propaganda came to be known as “Nazism”. He promised to undo the damage of the harsh Versailles Treaty and secure ‘Lebensraum’ (living space) for his people. He started with the concept of ‘pure’ race, that of native Germans, and considered the Jews to be inferior, and impure, the idea leading to ‘Holocaust’ for wiping out all the Jews. Around the same time Japan was along the lines of totalitarianism, acquired Manchuria in 1931 (Manchurian crisis) and by 1938, they occupied the main Chinese ports. During this time (1936-9) Hitler was venturing into the Spanish civil war, fighting from the side of right-wing, where he could collaborate with Mussolini. Being the same minds, treaties were concluded between Germany, Italy and Japan, bringing in the Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Axis into a coalition (Anti-Comintern pact, 1936).

Economic Depression

The global economy was badly hit by the economic depression of the 1920s. Evidently, the most affected economy was that of Germany after the signing of Versailles Treaty, with its increased debts. Reconstruction was slow and growth was very poor. With Hitler taking over the Weimar Republic, the conditions weren’t any better and economy was stagnating. The US was a glonal loan-provider, but with the crash of the New York stock market on 29 October, 1929, it called back all its loans and the West was most impacted by this Great Depression.

Effects of WW2

One of the tasks after the Second World War was the occupation and control of the defeated nations of Japan, Italy and Germany. Many other countries were devastated, and rebuilding seemed nowhere near. There were huge war debts and emergence of ‘peace-economies’. The biggest task realized was the restoration of peace somehow, after the two long drawn wars. Thousands were displaced, and the number of deaths wasn’t clear. Standard of living deteriorated, inflation was on a all-time rise.

Slow Recovery

Recovering from the war devastation was very slow and painful. For any regime or government to sustain, it was necessary to impose heavy taxes, which the wage-earning class couldn’t afford to pay at all. Rationing of food, and monitoring the economy was essential, as done in Britain. Many countries lost their resources in the war, and the ones who still possessed, took time to redevelop and get the production back in line. Russian aces worked out the best in this aspect, where its Slave labor worked for the Communist regime.

Fewer Great Powers

Before the war, along with United States and Japan, there were five other European countries ranked in the category of the Great Powers. As a result of the war, the three defeating allies got occupied by foreign armies, with France and Great Britain under grave economic distress and political instability. Only Russia could remain powerful, on the other side of the United States. This led to the emergence of two Power Blocs.

Communism vs Democracy

Russia and its communist dictatorship established prestige in the east and central Europe, influence visible in Aisa too. Democracy, despite continuing in western Europe, didn’t foster much of the powerful regimes, but was upheld by the socialists and Catholic Christians. France adopted a democratic Constitution and became a ‘Fourth’ Republic. Italy dethroned its king, proclaimed itself as a republic. Democracies prevailed in Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands and Belgium too. Yet, they faced opposition from pro-fascist groups. Great Britain was least bothered by unrest, as both its Labor and Conservative parties were pro-democracy groups.

Formation of UNO

After the WW2, many countries including the two powerful ones, Russia and the United States wanted restoration of peace globally. Newly formed or liberated nations also supported the idea strongly, and the unison led to a meeting of representatives from fifty nations in April 1945, at San Fransisco. They devised a plan to be better than that of the League of Nations and avoid the loopholes committed earlier. Hence, the Charter adopted led to the formation of a General Assembly, a Security Council and a Trusteeship Council among few other bodies, all becoming a part of the United Nations Organization (UNO). The first meeting of the General assembly, with 51 nations represented, was held in January 1946, permanent capital fixed in New York city.

Conclusion

War is not the solution of any disagreement between the countries but there are many other ways through which we can come to a peaceful solution without any war. The war will only bring destruction to us on our lives, economy, our environment and take the lives all living creatures on the earth. War is a social evil which every country needs to understand now and here. Now, it appears to us that if peace were to continue for a long period of time, people would have become sick of the situation of peace and would seek war for a change of situation. As it is a human nature to agitated with others, man always want something thrilling and want to be great in order to show his power. Therefore, we can say that war is not the wise way to dominate a person or a county but it brings destruction to the whole human kind.

War is always a destructive thing we can think off; war brings a great change in our lives. Even today the people of Hiroshima are suffering to lead a good life, children are born blind, handicapped, deaf, without hands and legs and many other people’s which we cannot of it. Even though they are alive but live as dead. Therefore, it is the duty of every human being to promote peace to the world at every moment of our life. God did not want us to fight among each other but told us to live in peace and harmony on this earth where we are only the guest not the owner therefore it is our responsibility to protect it.