The occurrence of the Second World War could really be termed as a continuation of the First World War. The important events after the WWI had really impacted and eventually caused the insurgence of another world war. It is noteworthy to say this early that since the beginning of ancient civilizations until the two world wars and the subsequent world events up to this contemporary period the root of all the conflicts is no other than the pursuit of power, in this particular case world dominance and supremacy.
According to history, the First World War was ended through the signing of the Treaty of Versailles, which obliges Germany to follow all the provisions that are declared by the agreement (Craig & Graham, 2005). However, the burden that the treaty imposed to Germany gave the impetus for the latter to finally arm itself for the second time and declare revolt against its oppressors.
When the economy of Germany experienced so much depression and its people started to air their grievances in opposition to the happenings during those times, Hitler regarded himself as the very person who was responsible to save his fellow Germans and his mother country (Craig & Graham, 2005). Ultimately, he disregarded the Treaty of Versailles and began to conquer its neighboring states through supreme military power. (Kevin, 2007) At this point, the Allies did not take any action to stop the increasing power of Germany.
Eventually, two of the superpowers of the world, Great Britain and France, started to feel threatened by the conquest of Germany. However, when Germany had finally decided to take Poland, the two nations arranged a conference called as the Munich Conference which only said that Britain and France would not stop or do anything against Germany. With the aid of Soviet Union, Germany conquered Poland (Craig & Graham, 2005).
At this point, the League of Nations only aired its protest through paper protests but did not really do something to address the impending threat of Germany on world order (Craig & Graham, 2005). The United States at this period established an isolationism policy which stated that it would not interfere on any conflict or event outside its territorial boundaries making Germany totally free to progress its invasions on Europe.
The rise of another great leader in Italy, Benito Mussolini, also contributed to the imminent war. For the reason that Italy was not able to get a land or territory after the WWI, Mussolini planned to capture Ethiopia which happened by supreme military attacks on the latter (Kevin, 2007). Mussolini and Hitler became allies and together they attacked the Soviet Union’s territories. Though Soviet Union was also a superpower then, most of its colonies and territories were disintegrated by harsh attacks of Germany (Craig & Graham, 2005).
At first, the USA did not wish to take any part of the German-Russian war since the Soviet Union was its greatest rival when it comes to world dominance. But when America realized how Germany would obtain so much power with the defeat of the Soviet, it came to aid USSR and made it a member of the Allies (Kevin, 2007).
Some historians suggest that it is not only the case that America joined the war because of power but chiefly because its own country and territories were being attacked in the Pacific by no less than Japan. Japan was also supreme in terms of military prowess during the pre-WWII period (Craig & Graham, 2005). As USA formed the Allies, Japan joined the Axis together with Germany and Italy. The next scenario was the devastating World War Two.
To sum up and conclude, WWII was not really a surprised event during those times. Instead, it was an expected and predicted occurrence as a sequel of WWI. The end of the WWI and WWII were both undesirable in such a way that there was really no victor in every war (in virtue, I suppose). The bottom line of the story is that, no matter what factors and changes that led to the WWII, the only reason for its happening is every nation’s pursuit of world dominance.
References
- Craig, A. M. & Graham, W. A. (2005). The Heritage of World Civilizations (7th ed.). Prentice Hall.
- Kevin, R. (2007). Worlds of History (3rd ed.) Bedford/St. Martin’s.