CAUSES Flashcards
LIST THE CAUSES OF WW2
1) Treaty of Veresailles
2) Hitler’s Aims
3) Hitler;s Actions
4) Weakness of the League of Nations
5) Policy of Appeasement
6) Nazi-Soviet Pact
7) Japanese Aggression
8) American Isolation
TALK/WRITE ABOUT TOV
-After WW1 the victors meat together to discuss what would happen to Germany.
Germany were forced to sign a treaty as punishment.
-Many people believed the conditions were too harsh and an unnecessary punishment towards the Germans.
The Germans were very supportive of Hitler when he began to ignore the treaty and many European countries did not try and stop him as they felt the conditions of the treaty were too harsh.
TALK/WRITE ABOUT HITLER’S AIMS BRIEFLY
- Hitler wanted to make germany great again.
- After WW1 and the treaty Germany struggled economically.
- The loss of territory was a problem for them.
TALK/WRITE IN DEPTH ABOUT ONE OF HITLER’S AIMS- NAZI PROGRAMME
- Nazi Germany, controlled by Hitler, began to take back lands they lost after WW1.
- The plans were to build a greater empire for germany.
- They demanded the abolition of the Treaty.
- Demanded land for their population needs.
TALK/WRITE ABOUT HITLER’S AIMS- LEBENSRAUM
- Lebensraum: living space
- One of Hitler’s main aims.
- GOAL- to make enough space for all German speaking people to live.
- Idea was that at present there was not enough space for all the German people.
- TROUBLING FOR MANY OF THE ALLIED COUNTRIES AS IT MEANT GERMANY GETTING CLOSER AND MORE POWERFUL- MORE DANGEROUS.
TALK/WRITE ABOUT HITLER’S ACTIONS
-Set about destroying the TOV once he gained full control of Germany.
- People aware of his ignoring the Treaty but chose to ignore it as so to not begin another war ( not prepared/ still recovering from WW1) and also felt treaty too harsh.
-HITLER’S ACTIONS (3)
~Invaded the Rhineland
~Supported another dictator(Mussolini)
~Anschluss
TALK/WRITE ABOUT HITLERS ACTIONS-RL
- The Rhineland was a piece of land between Germany and France that was demilitarised- no army from either side could enter.
- In 1936, Hitler sent the German Army in to claim the Rhineland for Germany and it became part of the German Empire.
TALK/WRITE ABOUT HITLERS ACTIONS- ANSH
-Austria and Germany were once connected as a nation.
-However the TOV removed this connection and any form of contact between them was banned.
- In Austria there were a lot of German speaking people and also a lot of Nazis and supporters of Hitler.
-Hitler convinced the head of Austria to allow German Army members into Austria and soon Austria joined with Germany.
This was know as Anshcluss.
TALK/WRITE ABOUT HITLERS ACTIONS- SUPPORTS
- Mussolini was another dictator in Europe at this time and ruled over Italy.
- He was also on a mission to build an empire for Italy.
- Hitler supported Mussolini’s invasion of Abyssinia(now known as Ethiopia) which was not permitted by the TOV.
TALK/WRITE ABOUT THE WEAKNESS OF THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS
- The LON was an organisation that was set up to solve international problems and disputes.
- The League however, were not strong enough to control the nations for a number of reasons.
TALK/WRITE ABOUT THE WEAKNESSES OF THE LON
- America( one of the strongest countries at the time) did not join the league. They did not want to hand over any power to the league and did not trust the strength of the organisation.
- Decisions made in the organisation had to have ALL VOTERS AGREED. This meant that all members of the organisation had to agree before a decision was made. This didn’t occur often so decisions were not made.
- The league had no army to enforce its decisions.
- Hitler took advantage of these weaknesses and did as he pleased with little to no consequences.
POLICY OF APPEASEMENT
- Britain and France had still not recovered from WW1 and did not want to start another war with Germany.
- The Policy of Appeasement was agreed between Britain and France to give into Hitler’s demands.
- They did this to avoid another war.
- Hitler saw the leaders as weak and did not stop demanding things of the countries.
NAZI SOVIET PACT
- Nazis did not like communists.
- However Hitler knew that Stalin was a powerful man and did not want to have to face him in a war.
- They signed a Nazi-Soviet Pact in 1939.
- They agreed on a 10 year non aggression pact- meaning they would not attack each other.
- They also secretly agreed on splitting Poland between them.
JAPANESE AGGRESSION
- Japan were looking for their own Lebensraum of their own at the time.
- The LON had failed to stop Japanese expansion
- When the LON placed economic sanctions on Japan, the Japanese retaliated by destroying the American Naval Fleet on Pearl Harbour.
- An attack on American soil brought them into he war in 1941.
AMERICAN ISOLATION
- America wanted to stay out of any global conflict.
- This was difficult as they were one of the most powerful countries.
- They didn’t join the LON to avoid any dispute with any other country.
- This led to other countries like Japan thinking they would not retaliate.
