Britain, France, Russia, Austria-Hungary and Germany all had a significant part play in the the outbreak of the first world war. The argument that was controversially introduced in 1961 by the historian Fritz Fischer brought forward the idea that Germany encouraged war on several levels, in particular when they urged Austria-Hungary into war with Serbia and continued to do so even when it seemed clear that such a war could not be made to happen. Source 1 makes this argument with specific reference to Fischer’s claims. By “focusing on annexation” and “offering unconditional support to Austria-Hungary” Germany seemed to push towards a war. The ultimatum given to Serbia by
(Document 6) As written in The Origins of the Second World War, by A.J.P. Taylor, if more countries kept getting involved with the issue of the Munich Agreement, Czechoslovakia would have been safe. Taylor also thought that German people were the only ones in the world who can “turn Hitler out” This was to be thought because the Germans were the ones who put him into power in the first place. “The appeasers” feared that the loss of Germany would result in the domination of Europe” (Doc
Both events were a large threat to peace, The Sudetenland crisis began in 1938 Hitler demanded that Czechoslovakia handed over the Sudetenland so that he could achieve his foreign policy aim to unite German speaking people. This incident threatened peace because Hitler threatened war unless Czechoslovakia handed over Sudetenland and because Czechoslovakia had defence agreements with Russia and France they would have gotten involved also this was a threat to peace because people living in the Sudetenland wanted to be a part of Germany so this could have protests and riots as Czechoslovakia didn’t want to hand over the Sudetenland. This would have been dangerous as most of Czechoslovakia’s military industries were in the Sudetenland so they would not have been able to defend themselves. However this crisis was resolved as the Munich agreement was organised to bring peace. The Nazi soviet pact which was signed on the 23rd of august 1939 as a non-aggression pact although was also a threat to peace, after the invasion of Czechoslovakia Hitler signed this pact with Stalin in which they agreed not to go to war with each other, within the pact they also secretly agreed to invade Poland and divide it.
Stalin wanted the east, to take over the Baltic states and he knew that Hitler would not keep his word but he had hoped that the agreement would give him time to build up his forces. * On September 1939, Germany invaded Poland and on September 2, Britain and France kept the promise they made about protecting Poland if Hitler invaded. And so they declared war on Germany. Hitler was not ready for such a war and he then realized he had taken one gamble too
At the beginning of World War I America attempted to stay neutral and focus on asserting their dominance throughout the western hemisphere, but as the war progressed it became clearer that America wanted and needed to enter the war. While many things had a profound impact on America’s entrance into WWI, American economic interests, Woodrow Wilson’s idealism, and American claim to world power, weighed heavily on the final decision to declare war on Germany. War provides a great opportunity for economic and industrial growth, a chance to change, and claim world power, as long as the country wins the war. American economic benefits of the war were not as prominent a factor as others, but nevertheless it did affect America’s decision to declare war. The economic side effects of entering a war can be beneficial to a country.
World War 2 & Hitler Nationalism was a large part of the second world war. Hitler wanted to achieve the status he desired for Germany, and there for he displayed multiple forms of ultranationalism. I agree with Margret MacMillan that Hitler would have always wanted more power no matter what happened, but I do not agree that the Treaty of Versailles had no effect on world war two. The Treaty of Versailles had a direct impact on the second world war, without Hitler violating the treaty Britain would not have declared war in 1939 kick-starting the second world war. I agree with Margret MacMillan that Hitler would want to gain more power no matter what happened.
When Hitler attacked Poland in September 1939, Roosevelt stated that, although the nation was neutral, he did not expect America to remain inactive in the face of Nazi aggression. Accordingly, he tried to make American aid available to Britain, France, and China and to obtain an amendment of the Neutrality Acts which was very difficult to obtain. He also took measures to build up the armed forces in the face of isolationist opposition. He kept playing cards with foreign policy, finding ways to aid the Allies against the Axis Powers. He advocated preparedness.
However, because of the ultimatum given to Belgium on August 2, 1914, by France, war was declared between the two countries on August 3. The ultimatum stated that German troops were to be allowed to pass through Belgian territories. This argument has no real basis to me, because although it was Germany’s troops who were being fought over, the actual disagreement was between two other countries. This author then goes on to mention that on August 4, Great Britain declares war on Germany, solely because they wanted to maintain world power
This meant they let him increase Germany’s armed forces and put them in the Rhineland, in violation of the Treaty of Versailles. They allowed him to take the Sudetenland from Czechoslovakia, believing that he would ultimately decide he had enough land. The policy did not have the desired affect; when Hitler knew he could get away with anything, he wanted more. Finally France and Britain realised he could not be appeased and they would need to take action against him. Had they done this earlier, there could have been a far less
America first started to cut off Japans power in the pacific sphere and then moved on to directly aiding the democracies in Europe. In the end, due to their frequent involvement in world conflicts, the United States of America cannot be considered neutral between 1939 and 1941. This essay shows the concept of Toynbee as the United States was faced with a challenge and had to response. They were faced with the challenge of remaining neutral but still keeping the democracies alive. And their response?