Essay: Causes of World War 2

Name : Noorida Idhar Adzananda Azizi

NIM : 163211036

Class : 2B-English Lite

Out of all the wars that the world has gone through, none has been more devastating as world
war II. But what caused this war? Well, world war II had six major causes: anger over the
Versailles Treaty, the failure of peace efforts after world war I, the rise of Fascism, the goals of
Hitler, the isolationism by America and Britain, and the re-armament of Europe. This paper will
go over each of these causes individually and then draw some conclusions about world war II.

The first cause of world war II was the intense anger over the Versailles Treaty. Germany was
very angry over two things and the first of which was the many territorial losses they had to
endure as a result of the treaty. They lost two cities on the French-German border and as per
Wilsons thirteenth point Poland was re-formed with access to the Baltic Sea, which went right
through Germany. Giving Poland Sea access split Germany into two parts, the main part of
Germany, and a small portion to the North of the Danzig corridor. The Danzig corridor really
inflamed Germany for many years, but they really could not do anything about the situation
because they lost world war I. Another country that was angry over the Versailles Treaty was
Italy. They were angry because they thought that the land that they had received as a payment for
their participation in the Allied effort against Germany did not offset the cost of the war, nor did
it satisfy their ambitions to grow. The final country that was angry over the Versailles Treaty was
Japan.

The second cause of world war II was the failure of the many peace efforts that occurred after
world war I. The League of Nations, which was one of Wilsons fourteen points and part of the
Versailles Treaty, was a forum in which nations could settle their disputes with one another. The
problem was that the League did not have any real power. The only thing it could do was try to
persuade the offending nation to concede and if that did not work out they could impose
economic sanctions on that country. But the league had so little power that the sanctions it
passed were normally ignored and it could do nothing from that point on. Another failed peace
effort was the Washington Conference. At this conference the principal naval powers agreed to
limit their navies according to a fixed ratio. But again none of the powers really went through
with their agreement. Yet another failed peace effort was the Locarno Conference. This
conference produced a treaty between France and Germany stating that the border between the
two countries was guaranteed. The final failed peace effort was the Paris Peace Act. At this
conference all of the major countries, excluding Russia, and many smaller countries agreed that
war was not a national policy and stated that they would try to resolve problems through
diplomatic means.

The final cause of world war II was a direct result from all of the previous causes, and that is the
rearmament of all the European powers. Tensions started to increase as Hitler tested the
European powers and most if not all countries began to increase their armies and navies. This
brought war closer because it meant that the government leaders were prepared to use force to
resolve the problems that Hitler was causing, and it raised tensions even higher than they already
were.

In conclusion, world war II was not an extension of world war I, but world war I was a big cause
of world war II. Most of the causes of world war II came out of the Treaty of Versailles, and if
that treaty had been better there might not have been world war II. Nevertheless, world war II
happened and we can only learn from the mistakes we see from the past.