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World War II: Causes

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World War II: Causes

Read the background and the two source descriptions. Use evidence and explain how events and decisions contributed to war. The causes were connected; no single event explains everything.

Background: a chain of tensions

World War I ended in 1918. In 1919, the Treaty of Versailles required Germany to accept responsibility for the war, give up territory, reduce its armed forces and pay reparations. Many Germans regarded the terms as humiliating and unfair. The treaty did not make another war inevitable, but resentment over it became a powerful political issue. During the late 1920s and early 1930s, the Great Depression brought unemployment and hardship to many countries. In Germany, economic crisis weakened confidence in the government. Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party promised national renewal, jobs and the overturning of the Treaty of Versailles. Hitler became chancellor in 1933; the Nazis then established a dictatorship, suppressed opposition and expanded military power. Other countries also faced authoritarian rule and aggressive expansion. Japan invaded Manchuria in 1931 and expanded its war in China in 1937. Fascist Italy invaded Ethiopia in 1935. Germany rearmed, sent troops into the Rhineland in 1936, annexed Austria in 1938 and took control of the Sudetenland after the Munich Agreement. In March 1939 Germany occupied the rest of Czechoslovakia. Britain and France had made concessions in some disputes, hoping to avoid another war; this policy is often called appeasement. On 1 September 1939, Germany invaded Poland. Britain and France declared war on Germany two days later. This invasion began the European war, but the deeper causes included unresolved grievances after World War I, economic and political instability, aggressive expansion, dictatorship and the failure of diplomacy to stop these actions.

Investigate the causes

Answer using the background and source descriptions.

1.Which statement best describes the Treaty of Versailles’ role in causing World War II?

It directly ordered Germany to invade Poland in 1939.
It created resentment that Nazi leaders later used, but it did not make war inevitable.
It ended the Great Depression across Europe.
It gave Germany control of Britain and France.

2.Name two requirements the Treaty of Versailles placed on Germany.

3.How could the Great Depression have helped extremist political parties attract support? Give one reason based on the background.

4.Put these events in chronological order by writing 1–4 beside them: Germany invades Poland; Japan invades Manchuria; Germany annexes Austria; Italy invades Ethiopia.

Germany invades Poland (1939)
Japan invades Manchuria (1931)
Germany annexes Austria (1938)
Italy invades Ethiopia (1935)

5.True or false? The invasion of Poland was the immediate event that led Britain and France to declare war on Germany, while other developments had already increased tensions.

TrueFalse

6.Source A is described as a record of the signing of the Treaty of Versailles. What can this source help a historian establish, and what can it not prove by itself about German reactions to the treaty?

7.Source B is described as showing people waiting in a breadline during the Great Depression. What economic hardship does this description suggest, and why might this kind of hardship matter to political stability?

8.What does the term appeasement mean in the context of the background, and what was Britain and France’s stated hope when they made concessions?

9.Complete the cause-and-effect explanation: Nazi leaders used resentment about the Treaty of Versailles and promises of national renewal to .

10.Which factor do you think contributed most to the outbreak of World War II: post-war resentment, economic crisis, aggressive expansion, dictatorship, or failed diplomacy? Choose one and support your view with two details from the background. There is no single required choice.