Download The Ten Most Important Causes of WWII

Thomas Kosakowski
October 20, 2011
Period F
The Ten Most Important Causes of World War II
Cause #1: The most significant cause of World War II was Adolf Hitler being elected
into office. When Hitler ran for the position of chancellor of Germany, he vowed
revenge on the countries that defeated Germany in World War I. His goal was to prove
that Germany was the strongest country in the world, and he was willing to prove it
through violence and war. Also, Hitler wanted to remove all of those whom he deemed
unworthy from society. These cultural peoples included the Jews, Poles, Gypsies, and
other ‘undesirables’.
Cause #2: The second most significant cause of World War II was the joining of forces
between the Imperialist Japan, Nazi Germany, and the Fascist Italy. Germany could not
fight against all of Europe by itself. Knowing this, it sought an alliance with some other
powerful nations. Japan would do the fighting for the Axis party in Asia, while Italy and
Germany would do the fighting throughout Europe.
Cause #3: The third most significant cause of World War II involved the events that
succeeded World War I. The Germans felt as though they were the laughing stock of
Europe after they were forced into a treaty with the Ally powers. This treaty made them
agree to clean up all of the damage resulting from World War I, and it made them refund
the money that the Ally countries had put into the war. Because of this, Germany was
left with a grudge against all of their opponents back in World War I, and eventually they
did something about it, which commenced World War II.
Cause #4: The fourth most significant cause of World War II included the Russian’s
quest to expand the practice of communism. One of the main reasons that Russia entered
the war was because they wanted to invade other countries and establish communist
leaderships within them. By the end of the war and a few decades afterwards, the Soviets
had controlled most of Northern Europe and Northern Asia, spreading communism
everywhere they went. A good example of this would be the communist rule they set up
in Eastern Germany after the war. The Western side was free under a democratic rule,
but the Eastern side was bound under Soviet Russia and communism.
Cause #5: The fifth most significant cause of World War II relied mainly on the Italians
quest for national power. For many years, Italy stood in the shadows of Britain, France,
Spain, and now even Russia. The Italians deemed that they were more superior to all of
these other races. As a solution to this problem, they decided to join forces with the
Germans and Japanese, who also shared their views on the topic. Each wanted to share
control over all the regions of the world and establish an extensive fascist government.
Cause #6: The sixth most significant cause of World War II involved another setback for
Germany following the treaty that ended World War I. This setback took much of the
land owned by Germany and turned it into Poland and a few other countries. Germany
was infuriated by this. At the start of World War II, the first country that they invaded
was Poland due to their beliefs that Poland still belonged to them. Within the first year of
the war, every country that was part of Germany during World War I was once again
under their control. This was the German’s definition of living room. The Germany
people were great in numbers, so in their opinions, they deserved a great amount of
space.
Cause #7: The seventh most significant cause of World War II included the want by
France and Britain to conserve most of their already established nations around the world.
Both of these countries had established control of land in Asia, Central Europe, South
America, Central America, and Africa. Along with many revolutions and revolts, the
Axis powers of Europe (Germany, Japan, and Italy) threatened to steal the land already
controlled by Britain and France. In order to put a halt to this, Britain and France
declared war on Germany. However, this plan backfired for them at first, because within
the first few years of the war, they too were under control by the Axis powers.
Cause #8: The eighth most significant cause of World War II was the Japanese wanting
to control China and all of Eastern Asia. Throughout history, there have been many
disputes between Japan and China regarding territory. Because China had won most of
the wars between the two, they were able to establish a large and extensive empire. This
empire even included their role in the Southeastern Asian countries of Vietnam, Korea,
etc. Japan had a great amount of jealousy because of this, and they decided to fight for a
reversal of this power in World War II.
Cause #9: The ninth most significant cause of World War II involved the United States’
hopes to spread democracy throughout the world. It may be true that the United States
had never entered the war until Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, but they had almost always
been involved with the disputes of Europe. Since World War II, the United States has
played a huge part in the formation of countries in both of these regions. For example,
when Germany fell after World War II, the United States, along with Britain and France,
established democracy within Western Germany.
Cause #10: The tenth and final most significant cause of World War II relied entirely
upon the clashing of views and beliefs between the countries of the world. Eventually,
they Ally and Axis powers were devised to separate the views of democracy from
Fascism, but until then, countries separately argued that their way of rule was the best.
Even with the separation of these countries into separate powers, the main dispute
involved which rule of government was the greatest. However, even within the two
powers, the countries didn’t completely agree on the best rule. An example of this was
the differences in government between Russia and the United States. They both were in
the Ally power, but they both believed in two entirely different forms of government.