World War II began on September 3, 1939, almost exactly two decades after the signing of the Treaty of Versailles, a peace treaty ending World War I. Years later, this sad date remains one of the terrible historical events in the world, thanks to which we can now live without fascism and German tyranny. The causes of war are innumerable, but they can be divided into seven main points. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why violent video games should not be banned”?Get the original essayThe Treaty of Versailles itself was a document that angered the Germans. The treaty ended the war between the Germans and the Allied Powers, a group including the United Kingdom, France and Greece, but unfairly required the Germans to accept responsibility for the outbreak of World War I. In addition, according to the treaty, Germany would have to make certain territorial changes, including ceding large parts of land to Poland, Denmark and Czechoslovakia. Additionally, the nation would be forced to completely disarm itself and the German Emperor and many other members of the military would be tried as war criminals. Naturally, the German government opposed this treaty, calling it a gross violation of national honor, but given the weak position of the German army, Germany had no choice but to ratify the treaty. However, even after Germany's disarmament and the end of World War I, anger and resentment grew in Germany for almost two decades. Adolf Hitler, dictator of Nazi Germany from 1934 and a decorated veteran of World War I, capitalized on popular resentment by promising to avenge the harm done to Germany by strengthening the German military and leading a war against the allied powers. Two years after his appointment as Chancellor of Germany in 1933, Hitler began actively pushing the German people toward militarization, encouraging war by advocating nationalism, anti-Semitism, and Pan-Germanism (unification of the German-speaking parts of Europe). ). . Italy, like Germany, was also deeply unhappy with the Treaty of Versailles and felt the same resentment. Benito Mussolini, head of the Italian government, strongly supported the war and preached that expansion could only be achieved through conquest. In 1937, Italy, Germany, and even Japan united to wage war against the Allied Powers, although it would be at least two more years before the fighting began. Besides discontent due to the Treaty of Versailles, the rise of fascism and Nazism was a major factor in the outbreak of World War II. Adolf Hitler became one of the leaders of the Nazi Party (short for National Socialist German Workers' Party) in the 1930s and gathered popular support for the Nazi Party's ideology: rebuilding and restoring Germany's glory by war. The German people's lingering resentment was fueled by reparations still being collected for World War I, and the people were urged to officially repudiate and renounce the Treaty of Versailles. Hitler was even more in favor of them and promoted Nazism as bringing the German dream to life. Hitler advocated war and turned Germany into a war camp by enthusiastically employing people in the military and the arms industry. During this time, Benito Mussolini promoted fascism in Italy as a means to achieve political goals and return the Italian nation togreat Roman prosperity of ancient times. Mussolini disliked the socialist doctrine in Italy and sought to reform the government into an authoritarian one. Groups of World War I veterans supporting fascism actively attacked anarchists, socialists, and communists, and in turn the Italian population began to praise the war as a means to achieve their political goals. Mussolini formulated the fundamental principle of fascism as follows: "Everything is the State, nothing outside the State and nothing against the State." In essence, this meant that the interests of individuals were subordinate to the interests of society.State. Fascism denied the freedom of individuals as well as freedom of speech and expression and opposed communism, socialism and internationalism. As the Treaty of Versailles prohibited Germany and Italy from possessing weapons, the rearmament of nations was carried out in secret and defense programs against possible aggression were launched simultaneously, also in secret. Thus, the rise of fascism and Nazism in the countries of Europe was the perfect recipe for starting a war. Moving away from Europe, Japan's development as an imperialist power was in fact one of the main causes of World War II. In Asia, Japan was the first country to adopt a policy of expansion and mercantilism and begin to industrialize. After signing the Anglo-Japanese Treaty in 1902, Britain recognized Japan as an equal to other European countries. Later in 1904, Japan defeated Russia in the Russo-Japanese War, a war against rival imperial ambitions to conquer Manchuria (a region in northern China) and Korea. During World War I, Japan joined forces with the Allied Powers and took control of German colonies in China after the end of World War I. In 1931, Japan had a fascist military regime and launched an invasion of Manchuria. Manchukuo, a nominal ruler controlled by Japan, was created and remained in China until the end of World War II. Six years later, Japan's victory in the Second Sino-Japanese War between Japan and China resulted in the signing of certain treaties with Germany and Italy and the formation of the Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Axis. , which in turn led to the emergence of the Axis. Powers (also known simply as Axis). The Axis was a unified body of countries that would oppose the Allied Powers during World War II. However, Japan's ambitious expansion came into conflict with that of the United States, and this became the main cause of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. But before that, secret fascist treaties were signed and the Japan, Italy and Germany all received a deal. hands-free to expand in their respective regions. However, the main contributing factor to World War II was Japan's joint creation of the Axis powers. If the Axis had not unified the countries planning to fight against the Allied Powers, the attack on the Allied Powers would most likely have been disorganized and therefore unsuccessful. Another important cause of World War II was the common fear of communism of Japan, Germany, England, France and Italy. The rise of the Soviet Union and the success of communism sparked fear and apprehension in many countries in Europe. For capitalist countries like the United Kingdom and France, communism posed a major threat: peasants and other lower-class workers might be angry at the nonexistence of a communist government that would make them equalto upper-class citizens, and thus might be inspired to organize a socialist revolution. In other words, the governments of these capitalist countries feared that they would face a socialist rebellion due to the spread of communist ideas. Fascists, unlike capitalists, were generally opposed to communists because they disliked the non-authoritarian principles of communism and did not want other forms of government to interfere with the spread of fascism in Europe. Moreover, the left-wing egalitarian nature of communism clashed with the right-wing authoritarian nature of fascism, just as the egalitarianism of communism clashed with the elitism of capitalism. So this was another reason why the fascists considered the communists their enemies. The fascist-communist enmity was, however, only in its infancy. With the help and support of the Soviet Union, Popular Front governments, or governments composed primarily of leftists (left-wing or egalitarian politicians) were formed in many European countries to control fascists. By 1935, the communist presence in Europe had grown so much that a Comintern (Communist International) was organized to unite the communist parties of all countries together. Such movements led Japan, Germany, and Italy to sign the Anti-Comintern Pact in 1937, which committed fascists to the fight against communism. Germany even had the audacity to declare its ambition to conquer the Soviet Union. Growing hostility between fascist nations and communist parties deepened the general division between the Axis and the Allied powers, making it a cause of World War II. An important cause of World War II was the policy of appeasement adopted by Western countries. powers (mainly England and France) which emerged directly from the rise of fascism in Central Europe. Witnessing the devastation of World War I, many countries feared the rise of another war. The fear in these countries grew stronger as they saw the growth of the economy and the military in countries like Germany and Italy. These countries began to become decision-making forces within Europe, invading their neighbors and only gaining status. In order to avoid further conflicts, countries like France and England for example tried to meet the demands of Germany and Hitler, rather than trying to stop them. They believed that satisfying these needs would prevent another devastating war. However, this was not the case. The initial appeasement plan only made German forces stronger and bolder, allowing them to build their army. England and France allowed Germany and Italy to continue their acts of aggression against the communist parties in the hope that favoring the fascist powers would help weaken them. Soviet Union. Remember that England and France are, like the fascists, also against communism, but for different reasons (notably because it contradicts capitalism and is capable of stimulating socialist revolutions). In addition to using fascist patronage against the Soviet Union, the Western powers believed that they could stop the spread of communism in the western part of Europe by using fascist-dominated Central Europe as a bulwark or defensive wall . Additionally, for reasons of self-protection, Neville Chamberlain, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, and Édouard Daladier, Prime Minister of France, appeased Germany to reduce the chances of it attacking Western Europe. This policy of appeasement seemed quiteharmless and was simply put in place due to Western fear of the spread of communism, but it actually strengthened fascist powers to dangerously high levels and put the world on the brink of World War II. Some examples of the promotion of fascism by Western powers are evident in the 1930s. Firstly, when the Spanish Civil War broke out in 1936 following the fighting of communist and fascist parties in Spain, Germany and the Italy sent huge amounts of troops to Spain to aid the fascists, but Britain and France, which the Soviet Union appealed to to collectively aid the communists, remained resolutely indifferent, adopting a policy of no -intervention. Another example can be seen in 1938, when Germany attempted to acquire the Sudetenland from Czechoslovakia due to the high number of German speakers living there. Germany demanded land from Czechoslovakia, but when Czechoslovakia rejected Hitler's demand, Hitler sought help from England and France. The Western powers, who were happy to support fascism, did not turn their eyes towards Czechoslovakia and readily signed the Munich Pact, giving Germany a free hand to seize all of Czechoslovakia . To recap, the appeasement policy of Western powers was a key cause of World War II because of the hostility it fueled between communist and fascist groups. Another fascist cause of World War II was simply fascist aggression. As mentioned previously, Japan invaded Manchuria, China, in 1931 following its new imperialist ambitions. Although China appealed for help in the attack to Britain, France and even the United States of America, all three nations remained indifferent and refused to intervene, a silent sin of omission. This was of course due to their policy of appeasement, but simply allowing an unprovoked act of war to pass obviously constitutes aggression, if not on the part of the fascists, then at least on the part of their supporters. China being a member of the League of Nations, it protested vigorously against the Japanese attack, but without result. Japan simply left the League and, emboldened by the formation of Manchukuo (the Japanese puppet island in Manchuria), went on to invade the rest of China in the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937. Similarly, Mussolini attacked Abyssinia (Ethiopia) in 1935 without any justification. Once again, the League of Nations made a scandal and declared Italy the aggressor. But as the leading members of the League of Nations followed a policy of appeasement, no action was taken against Italy and as a result, Abyssinia was conquered by the Italian fascists in 1936. In another blatant violation of the rules established (treated in this area) cases), invaded and annexed Austria in 1938. Even though it was a matter of such magnitude, neither France nor Great Britain protested because they firmly adhered to the policy of appeasement. Fascist aggression was therefore an indirect result of the policy of appeasement adopted by the Western powers, because once the Western powers agreed among themselves not to intervene in international affairs involving fascist/communist wars, the fascists were completely free to be aggressive and conquer as much as they wanted. research; Without the Western powers, there would be absolutely no one to intervene and stop them. However, such aggression angered the affected nations and once again created tensions and, 2(1), 1-7.