Drift to War

Causes of WWII

• Hitler’s aims
• Hitler’s actions
• Weakness of League of Nations
• Policy of Appeasement
• Nazi-Soviet Pact
• American Isolation
• Japanese aggression
• Treaty of Versailles
• Polish corrider

Hitler’s aims

• Union of all German speaking areas => Grossdeutchland
• Abolition of the Treaty of Versailles
• Lebensraum => land for settling surplus popluation

Hitler’s actions

• Rearmament => against treaty of versailles
• Sent German army to Rhineland (demilitarised zone)
• Supported Mussolini
• United Austria + Germany

Weakness of League of Nations

League of Nations set up after WWI

• promote international co-operation
• achieve international peace

League of Nations failed to stop Hitler, Japan or Mussolini beacuse

• America didn’t join the league
• Decisions had to be unanimous
• No army

Policy of appeasement

• Giving into Hitler’s demands to avoid war
• Magnoit line: french defence

Nazi-Soviet Pact => 1939

• Hitler + Stalin => 10 year non-aggression pact   * Divide Poland

American isolation

• America didn’t join the league of nations
• Japan attacked US => pearl harbour => joined war

Japanese aggression => in the east

• Japanese expanded empire

Treaty of Versailles

Treaty that Germany and the Allies had to sign, Germany disliked the terms:

• Germany had to sign a War Guilt Clause => acknowledge that it caused WWI
• Germany had to pay compensations to the Allies
• Germany could not enter Rhineland
• Part of Germany was cut off by the Polish Corridor
• German armed forced => reduced
• Germany was prevented from uniting with Austria

Polish corridor

• Where the war started
• 1st of September 1939
• Gadansk

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