Out of all the wars that the world has gone through, none has been more devastating as World War II. Although the definite origin or cause of this World War II can be argued over, some of the most popular reason till today remains the Appeasement, anger over Treaty of Versailles, the failure of peace efforts after World War I, the rise of Fascism, the goals of Hitler. Adolf Hitler became Chancellor of Germany in January 1933. Almost immediately he began secretly building up Germany's army and weapons. In 1934 he increased the size of the army, began building warships and created a German air force.
Hitler also thought that since the government was just developing it would have been a good time to seize power and take over the government. Finally, Hitler attempted the Munich Putsch also to gain support from the streets but this had failed him. I agree with the statement ‘the Reichstag Fire more important than the Enabling Act in allowing Hitler to consolidate power’ because of several reasons. Firstly, without the Reichstag Fire there wouldn’t have been an Enabling Act. The Reichstag Fire led to the Enabling Act because Hitler had managed to convince Hindenburg that it was a ‘communists uprising’.
The Weimar Republic appeared to have no idea how to solve the problems of the Depression. The Nazis on the other hand promised to solve the problems. Hitler promised most groups in Germany what they wanted. Hitler blamed all the problems on Jews and other sections of society. To Germans at the time, Hitler made sense; he united everyone by providing explanations for Germany's problems.
Therefore Hitler had no other choice but to purge the Sturmabteilung or S.A. After World War 1 the Treaty of Versailles stated that Germany could have a standing army. However, that army could only reach 100,000 soldiers. One thing that Hitler did realize was the Brownshirts were
“We want a peace which will be just, but not vindictive. We want a stern peace because the occasion demands it, but severity must be designed, not for vengeance but for justice. Above all we want to protect the future against a repetition of the horrors of this war”. Woodrow Wilson’s aims were seen as building a better and more peaceful world from the ruins of the Great War. Wilson believed the treaty of Versailles should punish Germany but not so harshly that it would someday recover and seek revenge.
Hitler expressed that Germans were superior and all other races were irrelevant. Germany expressed this belief towards the United States And Jewish civilians. He enforced this belief once he first started his rule. Thus, resulted foreign policy. In his foreign policy, it stated to destroy the Treaty of Versailles, which was what Germany had to adhere to due to their defeat in World War II.
This allowed the far right to exploit the Germans hate of the treaty of Versailles and connect the treaty to democracy, so the people wouldn’t blame the loss of ww1 on the army but the democratic politician’s. This led to an increase in public support for a more authoritarian dictatorial system the strengthening the far-right. The other main reason the loss
As well, the only way that the Wilson plan would have survived the political intrigue of the Europeans was either through a league that had real teeth, or a super power willing to intervene as a worldwide police officer. Neither of which existed in 1918. Clemenceau’s views represented the average sentiment of the European Allies after the war. In the closing days of the war, a war weary European population must have tried to make sense of the carnage, of the loss. Clemenceau casts a pale light on the German population, blaming the war on the aims of “the intolerable German Aristocracy.” (Clemenceau, p. 73) The entire argument for the French and nay, European view, was the perceived threat that Europeans felt of German arrogance.
To avoid war in the years 1935 to 1938, Britain and France turned a blind eye to small acts of aggression and expansion, the United States went along with this policy. Even though Roosevelt knew of the threat the Fascist proposed he was still worried about the majority of the isolationist throughout the country. Testing the waters in 1937 he spoke about the democracies teaming up and trying to “quarantine” the problem. The public did not take to well on this idea, and he quickly dropped the subject. Even though that speech failed Roosevelt somehow managed to argue for neutrality but at the same time convince Congress to start building up the arms and increase the military and naval budget by nearly two-thirds in 1938.
General von schleicher stopped supporting von papen and decided he himself should become chancellor, this triggered of a power struggle between von schleicher nd von papen, which ended with them handing power to Hitler. Hitler was made Chancellor in 1933 after von Papen persuades Hindenburg. Von Papen thought that as long as there were a limited number of Nazis in the cabinet then Hitler could be controlled. Von Papen was wrong. Another thing was there was the weakness of the Weimar government, which played its part.