Causes of WWII

• Appeasement of Germany (after rearmament), led Hitler to believe threat of war or implementation would result in concessions to his territorial demands
• Initial aim to reduce Poland to condition of docile ally against USSR, but Poland's unwillingness to accept role produced war
• Germany believed war with Poland would not lead to world war, and that Germany's military capabilities would render allies unable to stop decisive victory
• Germany territorial expansion desired from broad section of German industrial elite, and therefore from Hitler's racist ideology
• WWI caused by Hitler's racist ideology- agree

  • Hitler expressed desire to take Germany into race war in Mein Kampf (1925), thus a long-standing personal aim
  • Annexations of Austria and Czechoslovakia both followed by violent attacks on Jews and Slavs, suggesting connection between German expansion and racism
  • Hitler viewed Jews as anti-German, international force against nations, thus saw their eradication as part of foreign policy aims
  • Hitler hated Slavs and saw it as his historic duty to fight race war, and ethnically cleanse land for German settlers
• WWII due to British foreign policy- agree

  • As dominant power in League of Nations, Britain failed to use strong measured to uphold international law, encouraging wars of expansion (e.g. Abyssinia for Italy, 1935)
  • Britain broke Treaty of Versailles by signing 1935 Anglo-German Naval Agreement, assisting German rearmament
  • Br failed to respond when Hitler remilitarised Rhineland (1936), and invading of Austria
  • Britain could have entered an alliance with Soviet Union, but reluctance to led to Nazi Soviet Pact (1939), sealing Poland's fate
• WWI caused by British foreign policy- disagree

  • Hitler pledged to restore Germany through war in Mein Kampf (1925), opposed to British desire for peace in Europe
  • Soviet foreign policy also expansionist, Nazi-Soviet Pact (1939) evidence Britain was correct not to trust Stalin
  • British foreign policy based on appeasing Hitler through revisions of terms of Treaty of Versailles, and focus on avoiding war, not preparing for it
  • Invasion of Czechoslovakia increased German military strength and made Hitler more ready to gamble winning another war in Europe
• WWI caused by Hitler- agree

  • Hitler opposed terms of Treaty of Versailles since 1919 and argued in Mein Kampf (1925) that only war could redress Germany's grievances
  • Hitler's Social-Darwinist ideology caused him to argue Germany could only achieve racial dominance through war
  • By 1939, Hitler believed own propaganda, that he was a tactical genius guided by providence.
• WWI caused by Hitler- disagree

  • British appeasement legitimised Hitler's foreign policy and encouraged demands
  • France failed to honour French commitments to protect Czechoslovakia and seen by Hitler as increasingly weak, encouraging further territorial demands by Hitler
  • By signing Nazi-Soviet Pact (1939), Russia solved threat of two-front war for Hitler, encouraging him to invade Poland
  • Rearmament of Western powers catching up with German military preparedness prompted Hitler to go to war in 1939
• WWII caused by


  Hitler's ideology
• Social-Darwinist views


  Encouraged war as manifestation of racial supremacy, making conquest 'natural' to Hitler
• 'Blood and Soil' ideas held by Hitler


  Encouraged war and conquest to win Lebensraum
• Feat in WWI and Treaty of Versailles explained by Hitler as


  Work of traitors, thus Hitler believed another war under his dictatorship had chance of success
• Hitler believed


  Communism and Judaism closely linked, thus most dangerous enemy facing Germany, making war on Soviet Union inevitable
• Hitler sought to prepare Germany for war through


  Racial policies, e.g. only Aryans could be armed forces members, encouraging belief of Germany's victory
• WWI caused by Hitler's ideology- disagree

  • Despite self-belief, Hitler prepared to be pragmatic, e.g. signing of Nazi-Soviet Pact to overcome British guarantee to Poland
  • Hitler gambled as well as ideologised, prepare to push luck (boasted to generals 'I always go for broke')
  • Nazi-Soviet Pact was a disastrous mistake for Stalin, allowed Hitler to consider winnable war against Western powers
  • Had Hitler postponed war to 1943 (like originally planned), other Western powers could have rearmed further than Germany, thus early strike was a tactical advantage
• WWI caused by belief West wouldn't intervene- agree

  • Hitler grew in confidence as Western powers failed to intervene over Rhineland, Austria and Czechoslovakia, all of which went against terms of Versailles
  • Ribbentrop had informed Hitler British did not want war
  • Hitler believed Britain was not ready for war, militarily or psychologically, and believed Germany's superior armament s would dissuade them from acting
• WWI caused by belief West wouldn't intervene- disagree

  • Hitler saw war as means of making Germany great and wanted war for own sake
  • Hitler convinced Germany had a historic mission to conquer East, expressed in Mein Kampf (1925)
  • Germany might be outflanked by rearmament in West unless Hitler seized initiative and attacked Poland
• WWI caused by Hitler and opponents' blunders- agree

  • Appeasement of Hitler by Britain and Munich settlement (1938)
  • Failure of Britain and France to confront Hitler after invasion of Prague (1938)
  • Naivety of Stalin in entering pact with Hitler in 1939
  • Encouragement Hitler received from Mussolini through nurturing of Rome-Berlin axis (1936)
• WWII caused by Hitler and opponents' blunders- agree

  • German preparations for war and Hitler's own declarations of intention to go to war, e.g. Hossbach memorandum (1937)
  • Rearmament in Britain was closing gap with Germany making early war more attractive to Hitler
  • Hitler-Stalin Pact allowed Hitler to strike against Poland without feat of consequences being a war on two fronts
  • Germany's economy was in danger from a growing balance of payments crisis, potentially solvable by conquest.