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Legacy of World War IOutbreak of World War II
Legacy of WW I The Depression Ethnic and Ideological conflicts Reasons for early Axis victories Rize of Nazism Imperialism
After the first World War, Europe was in shambles and the US came out far ahead of the other countries involved in the War. Germany was forced to give reparations or payments to France and other European Countries because of Germany's wrong doings in World War I. The reparations that Germany had to pay created a bitterness in the country that helped fuel the rise of a second World War. Hitler exploited this bitterness using propaganda to get the people of Germany to follow him in his crusade of world dominance. France was left to fend off the beginning of World War II without the help of the Allies for a long time. England was afraid of getting involved in anything like World War I, therefore they did not help France with calming Germany in the years leading to World War II. The heavy dept owed to the United States kept them involved because the US had to keep an eye on their interests. After awhile the European countries such as France discontinued the payment of the loan they had borrowed from the US.
In the late 1920's the United States experienced the Great Depression. It was a time of suffering for millions of Americans, and also people of other countries, but the hard times went on in the US for many years. When England and France stopped paying the depts they owed the US, America felt betrayed and shut itself off to the outside world. The US became isolated, self reliant, and began looking within instead of dealing with other countries. When World War II was beginning , the US tried to stay out of it.
Ethnic and Ideological conflicts
France had a large stake in the reduction of a threat on its borders. You could say France had to defend itself from the constant threat of German expansion. France had to protect itself without help from other countries. The ideology of France was self preservation. On the other hand the US just wanted to stay out of anything resembling World War I; therefore, America's ideology was based on self containment. The US sought to sever its ties with other countries. Perhaps the important factor in the outbreak of World War II was the ideology of Germany. During the time leading to World War II, Germany's ideology was based on expansionism and dommination; in a word, Nazism. Japan had a similar role in the Far East. Like Germany, Japan sought the land of China and wanted to expand its borders. The ideals of Japan were simple, they needed resourses and China had them.
Nick Boots
Resourse: (Book)" The origins of the Second World War", Victor
Rothwell 2001
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Reasons for German and Japanese Victories from 1939-1942
From 1939-1942, it was clear that Germany and Japan were victorious in early battles because the allied coutries were not yet unified. The United States did not want to join the war effort until Japan bombed Pearl Harbor November 7, 1941. Many of the allied forces did not want to become involved in the war due to economic problems of their own. Germany and Japan were having swift victories and the Allied forces had to unite before they could stop their armies. Because of this, Adolf Hitler continued to take over many European countries including: Poland, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, and Norway. In 1942, Allied countries finally came together to overtake the Axis. The turning point in the war was in August 1942, when Germany began an assult on Stalingrad, Russia. The battle was fought in the air and lasted for six months. The Allied forces came out victorious and this marked a turning point in the war, the Allied forces would then go on to win many more battles and in the end, win the war.
Adolf Hitler became quite popular in Germany and this was no accident. The growth of Nazism was due a lot in part to financial contributions, favorable economics, political and social circumstances, and new members and supporters of Adolf Hilter and his party. When Hitler came into power, one of his goals was to unite Germany so that they would support him in anything that he did. He had an ability to sense and express personal fears, hopes and hatreds that the German listeners felt as well. Hitler calculated rallies, festivals, cook outs, and outings to fulfill the human need for belonging. The German economy was very good at the time that Hitler came into power, when things turned for the worse, he had already united the German people so that they would follow him when he accused the Jews for the down fall of the economy. The German people were now in a slump, the economy was down, things were not looking good for them. They needed something to blame this on and when Hilter began to blame the Jews, the rest of the German people were there to back him up.
Imperialism played a major role in beginning the war. It had to do with different countries wanting to expand and other countries wanting to keep their land. Before the United States got into the war, they had just gone through the Great Depression and did not want to start a war with anyone. They wanted to keep to themselves and work on rebuilding their own economy. The bombing of Pearl Harbor drastically changed this policy. Germany wanted to expand their borders because it was Adolf Hitler's dream was to take over the world. He continued to take over countries and expand Germany until the Allied forces put an end to this. Japan was looking to expand as well. Their country was very tiny and they wanted more space. Russia had a problem with Japan expanding into their territory and wanted to put a stop to it. While Japan was trying to move in on Russia, they were also trying to take land from China as well. Neither country was very happy with Japan. Great Britain had a problem with Germany taking over Europe because that meant that they would soon be taking over Great Britain as well. As you can see, countries trying to take over other countries was a major factor in the war.
Meghan McAndrew
