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Tara Rahimi

Mr. Greaney

WHAP period 4

April 8, 2013

DBQ: The Road to War

The beginning of the 1920s started out peacefully, but by the end of the decade and throughout

the 1930s, signs of war were starting to show. Countries such as Germany, Italy, and Japan started

taking aggressive actions. The British Prime Minister Chamberlain suggested that the best way to deal

with Hitler was by making a policy of appeasement. European nations waited for the worst before

forcing Hitler to halt his invasive actions. Therefore, Hitler’s invasions, the League of Nations, and their

appeasement were the main reasons the world plunged into World War II and the most effective

response to aggression is collective security.

After the First World War, Germany faced many negative economic impacts during the 1930’s.

People were out of jobs, and the value of the German Mark was next to nothing. The Germans were

desperately looking for a miracle that could take them out of their economic slump into prosperity.

When Hitler became the dictator of Nazi Germany in 1934, he started blaming the Jews for Germany’s

misfortunes and promised to do everything in his power to bring wealth back to Germany. Part of his

plan to revive Germany was to take territories back for the nation “not by flaming protests, but by a

mighty sword” (Doc 1). In this particular passage of his book, Hitler explained that he would forcefully

expand into other countries. He kept his promise by sending German troops to Rhineland, a buffer zone

between France and Germany, in 1936. Afterwards, Hitler explained his actions by saying: “‘I look up this

day as marking the close of the struggle for German equality status...’” (Doc 3). Hitler lied to Europe,

claiming that Rhineland would be his last invasion, but in reality, it was only the beginning of his

aggression. After Rhineland, Hitler started invading more and more countries, which assured the world a

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rising of another great war. The League of Nations lack of proper action by continuing to appease Hitler

was another reason the world plunged into World War II.

A main cause for World War II was the policy of appeasement and the League of Nation’s weak

attempt to try to stop Hitler. When Italy attacked Ethiopia in 1935, Haile Selassie, the emperor of

Ethiopia, requested the League of Nations help to stop the invasion. However, the League's lack of

response resulted in full invasion of Ethiopia. Selassie said, "God and history will remember your

judgment... It is us today. It will be you tomorrow" (Doc 2). Selassie was saying that the League of

Nations would essentially suffer for not helping Ethiopia in their time of need. After Hitler sent his

military into the Rhineland, Paris appealed to the league. “France has laid Germany’s latest treaty

violation before the Council of the League of Nations” (Doc 3). France asked the League to remove

Germany from the Rhineland diplomatically or with stronger pressure, but the league still did not take

action. Chamberlain wanted to deal with Hitler with appeasement and in Munich Chamberlin stated,

“With little good will and determination, it is possible to remove grievances and clear away suspicion…

we must try to bring these four nations into friendly discussion. If they can settle their differences, we

shall save the peace of Europe for a generation” (Doc 5). Chamberlain later stated in The Times that he

did not want to give up his hope of a peaceful solution. Winston Churchill, however, disagreed with

Chamberlain and in his speech to Parliament in 1938 he warned England about the policy of

appeasement. He also spoke out to the League of Nations, saying that Nazi Germany has weakened the

League and have put Europe in a position where they don’t have strong national defense or an

international system of security. The weakened League and the policy of appeasement plunged Europe

into World War II. An effective response to aggression would have been collective security.

Collective security would have been a much better way to respond to aggression because

appeasement was not effective. Appeasement made Hitler feel that he could violate the Versailles treaty

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because he knew that Europe wanted to maintain peace, therefore, they would not take action against

him. Neville Chamberlain supported appeasement and believed it was the answer for when Hitler

demanded for Sudetenland, a section of Czechoslovakia. Hitler promised that he would recognize

Czechoslovakia’s new boundary lines, but six months later he took over the entire country. The French

and British also supported appeasement even when Hitler wanted to take the Rhineland. Later, Hitler

admitted that if the French and British had tried to stop him he would have backed down. By using

appeasement Europe was giving Hitler exactly what he wanted, which was why collective security would

have been a better response to the aggression. If Europe had used collective security, they could have

gained back the power they had lost. Hitler was easily taking over countries and land, because none of

the countries of the League of Nations did not want to disrupt peace in Europe. In the end, this backfired

on Europe because it caused the Second World War.

World War II happened for many reasons and there was no way of stopping it from occurring.

The disagreements and aggression between France, Italy and Japan signalled the coming of another

world war. Choosing appeasement over collective security weakened the League of Nations power and

gave Hitler what he should have never been granted. We were plunged into World War II because of the

League of Nations betrayal and for not handling conflicts in the correct manner.