Why war broke out in 1939 In 1939, Germany, after signing the German-Soviet Pact, attacked Poland. Much to Hitler’s surprise, Britain and France, who had both seemed unwilling to go to war responded to his actions by declaring war against Germany on the 3rd of September. The events leading to this war can be traced back to the end of World War I, or more specifically, the Treaty of Versailles. The treaty was famous for it’s harshness and cruelty against Germany, forcing them to pay huge amounts of reparations and took away some of Germany lands, while demilitarizing some. It also severely restricted Germany’s military power.
Firstly, they were, under a ‘War Guilt’ clause, expected to accept all of the blame for the war. The Allies maintained that this was because they had, rather than fight Russia, on whom they had declared war, followed the Schlieffen Plan and opted to invade France first. To do this they marched through Belgium, which was a neutral country and not a part of any major alliances, leading to the British, Belgian and French declarations of war on Germany. The Germans felt that this was unfair because Britain could have kept out of the war as it was not being threatened – they felt that they were expected to accept the blame because they had lost, rather than because it was their fault. Secondly, all of Germany’s colonies were taken away, and Germany itself had its borders redefined.
It can be argued that had these short term factors not come about, the outbreak of war would have been avoided regardless of the fact that these triggers were deemed to be less important than other long term factors such as Britain’s relationship with Germany. The treaty of London, signed in 1839 stated that Britain should protect Belgium and with Germany violating this with their invasion, forced the government to go to war, with the help of pressures from the public who were extremely pro-war at the time. The alliance system may also be to blame for Britain’s involvement in the war as due to the assassination of the Archduke and his wife, causing Austro-Hungary declaring war on Serbia, dragging all the other powers in Europe into war. This, however, can only be seen as a catalyst as tensions within Europe had been increasing rapidly since the turn of the century. Germany’s decision to build a navy that would rival Britain’s did nothing but sour relations further between the two dominant powers of Europe at the time.
So did something go wrong in the handling of the crisis, or did one or more of the countries involved exploit the situation to plunge Europe into war? (The view that somehow Europe simply stumbled into World War 1 by accident is generally not accepted by historians). It is at this point that controversy begins. Austrian Response to the Assassination The Austrians delivered an ultimatum to Serbia that was almost guaranteed to be turned down by Serbia, but in the event Serbia accepted almost all the points. Austria then declared war on the grounds that it had not been accepted in its entirety.
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. This would have been a threat as both countries weren’t on good terms with Britain and France so both superpowers would be able to help defend each other. This pact was dangerous as if they did invade Poland there would be an inevitable war as Britain had promised to defend Poland if ever invaded. The pact also threatened peace between capitalists and communists it didn’t make sense to the world that anti-communist Hitler who considered Russians subhuman would make a pact with them so this pact would have annoyed and shocked Russian communists, which could have led to protests in Russia and Germany threatening peace. It also would have shocked Britain and France and could be
This was somewhat a political decision that the United States needed to make in support of her allies. The U.S needed to prioritize strategy in choosing how they would act after the bombing of Pearl Harbor and Hitler’s military success’s in Europe. The U.S had two options as to how they would proceed with military action. We knew if Russia collapsed that would allow Hitler to then fully focus his attention to defeating the British as well as helping out the Japanese which was a great ally of Hitler. The Japanese military success with the bombing of Pearl Harbor was obviously of great importance to the United States but helping our allies defeat Hitler took precedence after Winston Churchill asked the president Franklin D. Roosevelt for support in defeating Hitler.
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?
This is interesting though as President Adams ruined his chance of re-election by deciding to keep the USA out of the Napoleonic Wars. President Jefferson had the same problem when he decided to cut trade with Europe in order to keep the country out of the very same war. Finally, under President Madison, the United States entered the war with catastrophic consequences. After World War I and the disastrous number of dead Americans, there was a very strong isolationist feeling within the United States. This was intensified with the Depression of the 1930s and the focus on domestic issues.
Kyle 1 Mr. CHC 2D1/2D2 Tuesday June 10, 2014 Force’s with Bad Luck During world war two, Germany’s leader, Adolf Hitler, decides to break his pact with the Soviet Union and invade. This is one of the major decisions, which in time, helped Germany loose the war. It was also a factor in helping convince the Soviet Union to join the war and fight for the allies. In June 1941 after Germany had taken over most of Europe, Adolf Hitler decides to become greedy. How did Hitler invade the soviet Union, why did he invade the Soviet Union, and how does the novel “Soldier X” by Don Wulffson, describe war to what war was really like.
If the countries try to solve their problems peacefully through negotiation, it may result to mild tension but in contrast, if they want a war over a piece of land; people would be killed, cities would be damaged or destroyed. As a result the tension between the two countries would be huge and any future efforts of negotiation would be much more difficult. There are certain situations when violence may be justified. Let’s take World War II as an example. Hitler was advancing his plans to expand Germany in the late 1930s.