KEY WORDS:
- The Treaty of Versailles: This was an agreement between the Allies and Germany after the first world war that punished Germany for what they had done. For example, Germany had to pay for civilian damages they caused.
It all really starts at the end of the First World War. The Treaty of Versailles has been signed and, in Germany, this makes a lot of people unhappy. Germany now has 6 million people unemployed (out of work), and between the Treaty of Versailles and the Wall Street crash* Germany’s general economy isn’tlooking so good. Now Hitler comes along.
He says that he can fix Germany’s economy and make Germany great again. And, after making himself dictator, he starts breaking some of the rules of the Treaty of Versailles. He does things like:
Build up an army – From 1933 to 1939 Hitler grew his army from 100,000 to nearly 4 million, and went from just a few dozen combat vehicles to some of the best planes and tanks of the time.
Invaded countries, “peacefully” – Hitler reoccupied (re – took over) Rhineland and entered Czechoslovakia, even though both of these actions were against the treaty. Whilst he was allowed to take over the Sudetenland region as part of the Munich Agreement (that France and Great Britain had signed in hopes of avoiding a war), his full occupation of Czechoslovakia was not allowed. He said he did it “peacefully”, and that he was just protecting the Germans who lived there.
Even though these things that Hitler was doing were against the treaty of Versailles, nobody took much action to stop him from doing these things.
Now it looks like Poland is Germany’s next target. So, the UK and France say that they will support Poland if Germany were to invade them.
But while all of this is happening, Hitler is talking with Stalin. Even though Stalin is sworn enemies with Hitler, he signs an agreement ( Nazi – Soviet Non-Aggression Pact) as he thinks that the British and French are pushing Hitler to invade the Soviet Union.
Hitler signs the agreement to avoid the Soviet Union potentially interfering when Germany invades Poland.
Next, early in the morning on September 1st, 1939, Germany invades Poland. They share Poland with the Soviets.
The UK and France declare war on Germany on the 3rd of September, 1939. That is the start of World War 2.
https://youtu.be/_uk_6vfqwTA
SIMPLIFIED –
There were a few reasons for World War two beginning:
- The first was probably that many Germans felt that the Treaty of Versailles rules were quite harsh.
2. The second was probably all of Hitler’s claims that he could make the country great again and the chances he took.
3. The third was probably that nobody took any real action to stop Hitler from doing the things he did.
* The wall street crash was a stock market crash in the US that affected Germany as it relied on loans from America at the time.