Causes of World War TwoTreaty of VersaillesHitler’s Imperialistic Ambitions and Violation of the Treaty of VersaillesThe Great DepressionThe Rise of FascismThe Policy of AppeasementFailure of the League of Nations

Treaty Of Versailles• Document that laid

out the terms of peace between Germany and The Allies (winners)

• This was a dictated peace treaty to Germany

- they had no say!

Germany forced to Sign Treaty•Germany signed June 28 1919

•Allies Threatened to resume the fight!

Was the Treaty TOO Harsh?•Economy in ruins- Massive inflation- Could not make payments

•Territory changes

- Different ethnic groups combined

- Many left without homeland

- Feelings of nationalism unchecked

Treaty of Versailles created Hostility in Germany• Weimar Government

blamed for treaty terms- Stab in the Back Myth

• Loss of German territory, population, and pride

- Rhineland

• 32 Billion $ Reparations devastates the economy

• Created hostility towards Minorities = Jewish

The Devastation of the Great Depression• The Depression forced the

Allied countries to focus on getting themselves out of economic trouble

• Allied Nations- France, Great Britain, US

• Germany able to defy treaty terms and focus on imperialistic ambitions because the Allied countries were distracted

The Rise of Fascism• The panic of the

1930s caused many people to look for new political parties

- Several charismatic leaders promised solutions to the suffering and incompetent leaders

• Rome Berlin Axis- Italy and Germany wanted

to work together to expand empires

Lebensraum- Living Space•Hitler’s plan to gain living space for Germans

- re incorporate ethnic German populations into Germany

- Austria- Sudetenland - Poland

Germany Violates the Terms of The Treaty of Versailles

•Between 1933-1935 Hitler began re-armament

•1935 Mandatory Conscription•1936 Germany occupied the Rhineland•1938 Germany joins with Austria•1938 Germany occupies Sudetenland- A territory populated by ethnic Germans given to

Czechoslovakia at the Paris Peace Conference

Policy of Appeasement• Appeasement is giving

into demands to avoid war

• France, Britain, and the US wanted to avoid any confrontation

- Still weak from the Great Depression

- Feel bad for the harsh treatment of Germany after WWI

- Thought Hitler was a reasonable leader

- Fear another war

Appeasement and the Munich Agreement 1938• Munich Conference

France, Britain, US tried to negotiate with Hitler

- After Hitler threatened to invade the Sudetenland

• Hitler promised that he would only take the Sudetenland

- Neville Chamberlain announced to the world that they have secured “peace for our time”

Nazi Soviet Aggression Pact• Germany wanted to

invade Poland but this would be seen as an act of war towards the Soviet Union

• Hitler and Joseph Stalin August 1939

- Both countries signed a pact to not fight each other if one of them went to war

- Agreed to divide Poland - Hitler free to invade Poland

Failures of the League of Nations•League of Nations was supposed to help

maintain world peace but it was too weak- Major powers did not support the league

•Could impose economic sanctions BUT the league had no military to oppose an aggressor

- Nations refused to disrupt trade with economic sanctions

•Many nations chose the policy of isolationism rather than intervention

Declaration Of War•September 1st

1939 Germany invades Poland

- Britain and France order Germany out by September 3rd

•September 3rd 1939 France and Britain declare war