World War II began on September 3, 1939, almost exactly two decades after the signing of the Treaty of Versailles, a peace treaty that ended World War I. Years later, this sad date remains one of the terrible historical events of the world, thanks to which we can now live without fascism and German tyranny. The causes of the war were innumerable, but the causes can be divided into seven main points. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essayThe Treaty of Versailles itself was a document that aroused anger among the Germans. The treaty ended the war between the Germans and the Allied Powers, a group that included the United Kingdom, France, and Greece, but unfairly required the Germans to take responsibility for starting World War I. Furthermore, according to the treaty, Germany was supposed to make some territorial changes, including the cession of important portions of territory to Poland, Denmark and Czechoslovakia. Furthermore, the nation would be forced to completely disarm, 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 clear violation of national honor, but considering 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 nearly two decades. Adolf Hitler, dictator of Nazi Germany from 1934 onwards and a decorated veteran of the First World War, took advantage of the people's resentment by promising to avenge the wrong done to Germany by strengthening the German army and declaring war on the Allied powers. Two years after his appointment as Chancellor of Germany in 1933, Hitler began actively pushing the German people towards militarization, encouraging a war by advocating nationalism, anti-Semitism, and pan-Germanism (unification of the German-speaking parts of Europe). . Italy, like Germany, was bitterly dissatisfied with the Treaty of Versailles and felt equally resentful. Benito Mussolini, the head of the Italian government, strongly supported war and preached that expansion could only be achieved through conquest. In 1937, Italy, Germany, and even Japan joined together to declare war on the Allied Powers, although it would be at least another two years before any battle began. In addition to the discontent due to the Treaty of Versailles, the rise of fascism and Nazism was one of the main factors that caused World War II. Adolf Hitler became the leader of the Nazi Party (short for National Socialist German Workers' Party) in the 1930s and gathered popular support for the Nazi Party's ideology: to rebuild and restore Germany's glory through war. The continuing resentment of the German people was fueled by the still ongoing reparations 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 a tool to make the German dream alive. Hitler glorified war and turned Germany into a war camp by enthusiastically employing personnel in the army and the armaments industry. Meanwhile, Benito Mussolini promoted fascism in Italy as a way to achieve political goals and restore the Italian nation to the great Roman prosperity of ancient times. Mussolini disliked the socialist doctrine in Italy and tried to reform the government in an authoritarian manner.Groups of World War I veterans supporting fascism actively attacked anarchists, socialists, and communists, and in turn the Italian population grew to praise the war as a means to achieve their political goals. Mussolini defined the fundamental principle of fascism as “Everything is the state, nothing outside the state and nothing against the state”. In essence, this meant that the interests of individuals were subordinated to the interests of the state. Fascism denied the freedom of individuals as well as freedom of speech and expression and opposed communism, socialism and internationalism. Since the Treaty of Versailles prohibited Germany and Italy from possessing weapons, the rearmament of the nations was done in secret and simultaneously defense programs against possible aggression were launched, also in secret. Therefore the rise of fascism and Nazism in European countries was the perfect recipe for the start of a war. Moving away from Europe, Japan's development as an imperialist power was actually a major cause of World War II. Within Asia, Japan was the first country to adopt the policy of expansion and mercantilism and to begin industrialization. After signing the Anglo-Japanese Treaty in 1902, Britain recognized Japan as equal to other European countries. Later in 1904, Japan defeated Russia in the Russo-Japanese War, a war over rival imperial ambitions to conquer Manchuria (a region in northern China) and Korea. During World War I, Japan joined the Allied Powers and took control of Germany's 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 founded 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 led to the signing of some treaties with Germany and Italy and the formation of the Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Axis, which in turn led to the birth of the Powers (also known simply as Axis). The Axis was a unified body of countries that would oppose the Allied powers in World War II. However, Japan's ambitious expansion conflicted 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 Japan, Italy and Germany were given a free hand to expand in their respective regions. The main contributing factor to World War II, however, was Japan's joint emergence of the Axis Powers. If the Axis had not unified the countries intending to fight against the Allied powers, the attack on the Allied powers would most likely have been disorganized and consequently unsuccessful. Another significant cause of World War II was the common fear of communism by Japan, Germany, England, France, and Italy. The rise of the Soviet Union and the success of communism sparked fear and apprehension in many European countries. For capitalist countries such as the United Kingdom and France, communism posed a grave threat: peasants and other lower-class workers might be angry at the nonexistence of a communist government that made them equal to upper-class citizens, so they could be inspired to organize a socialist revolution. In other words, the governments of these capitalist countries feared that they had a socialist rebellion on their hands due to the spread of communist ideas. The fascists, unlike thecapitalists, they 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. Furthermore, 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 fascists considered communists their enemies. The fascist-communist enmity, however, was only just beginning. With the help and support of the Soviet Union, Popular Front governments or governments consisting mainly of left-wing people (left-wing or egalitarian politicians) were formed in many European countries to control the fascists. By 1935, the communist presence in Europe had grown so much that the Comintern (Communist International) was organized to unite the communist forces. communist parties of all the different countries together. These movements led Japan, Germany and Italy to sign the Anti-Comintern Pact in 1937 which committed the fascists to the fight against communism. Germany was even brave enough to declare its ambitions to conquer the Soviet Union. The growing hostility between the fascist nations and the communist parties fostered the general division between the Axis and the Allied powers, thus making it the cause of the Second World War. An important cause of the Second World War was the policy of appeasement adopted by the Western powers. powers (mainly England and France) that arose directly from the rise of fascism in Central Europe. Witnessing the devastation of the First World War, many countries were left in fear of another war breaking out. The fear instilled in these countries became stronger when they saw the growth of the economy and military in countries like Germany and Italy. These countries began to become controlling forces within Europe, invading their neighbors and increasing their status. To avoid further conflict, countries such as France and England, for example, sought to accommodate the demands of Germany and Hitler, rather than attempting to stop them. They believed that meeting these needs would avoid another devastating war. However, this was not the case. The original pacification plan only made the German forces stronger and bolder, giving them the opportunity to build their own army. England and France allowed Germany and Italy to continue with their acts of aggression against the communist parties in the hope that the favor of the fascist powers would help weaken them. the Soviet Union. Let us remember that England and France are also, like the fascists, against communism, but for different reasons (specifically, because it contradicts capitalism and is capable of stimulating socialist revolutions). In addition to using fascist favoritism against the Soviet Union, Western powers felt they could stop the spread of communism in western Europe by using fascist-dominated Central Europe as a bulwark or defensive wall. Furthermore, for reasons of self-defense, Neville Chamberlain, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, and Édouard Daladier, Prime Minister of France, accommodated Germany to reduce the chances of Germany attacking Western Europe. This policy of appeasement seemed harmless enough and was put in place simply because of Western fear of the spread of communism, but in reality it strengthened fascist powers to dangerously high levels and put the world on the brink of World War II. Some examples of Western powers' favoring of fascism are evident in the 1930s. First, when the Spanish Civil War broke out in 1936 as a resultof the communist and fascist parties fighting in Spain, Germany and Italy sent huge quantities of troops to Spain to help the fascists, but Great Britain and France, to which the Soviet Union appealed to collectively help the communists, remained staunchly indifferent, adopting a policy of non-intervention. Another example can be seen in 1938, when Germany attempted to acquire the Sudetenland from Czechoslovakia due to the large number of German-speaking people there. Germany asked Czechoslovakia for the land, but when Czechoslovakia rejected Hitler's request, Hitler looked to England and France for help. The Western powers, happy to support fascism, did not turn their eyes to Czechoslovakia and promptly signed the Munich Pact, giving Germany a free hand to take over the whole of Czechoslovakia. To recap, the appeasement policy of the Western powers was one of the main causes of the Second World War due to the hostility it fostered between communist and fascist groups. Another cause of World War II related to fascism was simply fascist aggression. As previously mentioned, Japan invaded Manchuria, China in 1931 following its new imperialistic ambitions. Although China requested help in attacking 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 due to their policy of appeasement, of course, but simply letting an unprovoked act of war pass is obviously aggression, if not on the part of the fascists, then at least on the part of the fascist supporters. China being a member of the League of Nations, the League of Nations strongly protested against the Japanese attack, but to no avail. Japan simply left the League and, encouraged 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. Likewise, Mussolini attacked Abyssinia (Ethiopia ) in 1935 without any justification. Once again, the League of Nations made a scene and declared Italy the aggressor. But since the main members of the League of Nations followed the policy of appeasement, no action was taken against Italy, and as a result, Abyssinia was conquered by the Italian fascists in 1936. In another flagrant violation of the established rules ( treaties in this case), invaded and annexed Austria in 1938. Although it was such a huge issue, neither France nor Britain protested as they firmly adhered to the policy of appeasement. Thus fascist aggression was an indirect result of the policy of appeasement adopted by the Western powers since once the Western powers agreed among themselves not to intervene in any international affairs involving fascist/communist wars, the fascists were completely free to be aggressive and conquer as much as they wanted. wanted; without the Western powers, there would be absolutely no one to step in and stop them. However, such aggression angered the affected nations and once again created tension and resentment between nations, bringing the world one step closer to World War II. Basically as a direct result of the Americans, English and French adopting the policy of appeasement and non-conciliation. intervention, the League of Nations failed and became impotent. Since Britain and France were the two main members of the League of Nations, without their support, the League had no power to enforce anything, impose sanctions or take military action where necessary, 2(1), 1-7.