Getting into World War II:

A Nightmare Come True

At the end of World War I, all of the European countries were exhausted from the long war and were determined to prevent a new war. The Treaty of Versailles was made to keep Germany from becoming strong and attacking other countries. It was also made to keep world peace by agreeing to limit each country’s weapons of war. The European countries also agreed to limit the number of naval ships. This was a successful start to disarmament.

The League of Nations

Woodrow Wilson, the President of the United States, had the idea for the League of Nations. The leaders of the countries that joined the League of Nations wanted to help countries settle their disagreements peacefully.

The League of Nations called a meeting of 60 nations in Switzerland in 1932. The leader of Germany would be willing to stay at the current weapon and equipment level that the Treaty of Versailles set, but only if the other countries would do the same. France, however, refused to do this until an international police system could be set up. The Swiss meeting ended in failure, and Germany’s government collapsed. Within eight months, Adolf Hitler became the leader of Germany. Immediately, he took Germany out of the League of Nations.

Unfortunately, the League of Nations was a failure for several reasons. First, it did not have a military or police force that could enforce its decisions. The most powerful countries did not think it was necessary to have a police force because they thought the enforcement of the rules was not the purpose of the League. The League depended on the militaries of its members to enforce final decisions.

Second, the United States never joined the League, even though President Wilson helped create it. The U.S. Senate refused to allow the United States to join because it believed that the United States would have to commit money and armies to protect other countries.

Third, when problems arose, different members of the League of Nations had different ideas on how to resolve their problems, but they could not reach an agreement. When Italy attacked Ethiopia, the three major powers in the League of Nations (Great Britain, France, and Russia) could not agree on what should be done. Britain and Russia wanted to punish Italy. France, however, did not agree. France was afraid of another war with Germany, and France thought Italy could be an important ally against Germany. France thought it was more important to remain allies with Italy than to protect a small country like Ethiopia.

Attempts at Disarmament

The Allies disarmed Germany because they were afraid of another war, and they promised to work at reducing their own and everyone else's armies and weapons. In 1921, the Washington Naval conference agreed to control the number of ships each country could have in its navy. Naval conferences held in 1927 and 1930 had little success, and nothing was done to disarm Germany of their ships, but both countries did not act to disarm Germany. Great Britain and France were more afraid of the Soviet Union, and each country had other problems at home.

Most of the countries in Western Europe were too busy with their own problems to pay much attention to the pleadings from the German government asking for more money to help rebuild their cities destroyed by World War I. After being unsuccessful at this, the people of Germany decided that the existing German government was worthless. This dissatisfaction and the worldwide economic depression led to the fall of the German government. As the leading officials lost power, the Nazi party of Adolf Hitler grew stronger. Adolf Hitler had tried to come to power once before. This was called the "Beer Hall Putsch." On November 8, 1923, Hitler had interrupted a very important meeting and threatened everyone with the guns he was waving in his hands. These plans had been very poorly made and they failed.

Nazi Germany

The Nazi party made big improvements in the early 1930’s from the German elections. After the depression in Germany, many Germans were attracted to Hitler’s promises to improve the economy, ignore the rules of the Treaty of Versailles, and rebuild Germany’s military power. In 1932, President Von Hindenburg was re-elected. As president, he made Hitler the chancellor of Germany in 1933. Hitler withdrew Germany from the League of Nations.

In 1935, Hitler created an army for all boys and men, created an air force, and started to build submarines. The Treaty of Versailles kept Germany from having more than a 100,000 man-army, but Hitler soon had 600,000 men waiting for battle. Despite the Treaty, Great Britain and France ignored the German threat by allowing Germany to have an army and air force. Great Britain and France believed that if Germany was strong it would prevent the Soviet Union from attacking them. By allowing Germany to have an army, it would make it more difficult for the Soviet Union to attack France or Great Britain.

The Rhinelands to Munich

In 1936, Hitler broke another rule of the Treaty of Versailles; he moved a part of Germany’s military into the Rhineland, (an area west of the Rhine River bordering France) which was forbidden by the Treaty. He wanted to see if France and Great Britain would react. If France attacked Germany, Hitler would be forced to step down as the leader of Germany, and a weak government would take his place. However, Hitler knew he could easily regain his power due to his popularity with the German people. Even though the Treaty did not allow a German military build-up, France and Great Britain did not challenge Hitler's military growth. Great Britain and France did not attack Germany.

In the spring of 1939, Hitler concentrated on the German-Polish border. The Treaty of Versailles gave Poland a piece of land called the Polish Corridor. Many people in this area spoke German, but the allies wanted to reduce Germany’s size and give Poland a port city with access to the Baltic Sea. Hitler wanted to take back the Polish Corridor for Germany.

Britain and France ignored the Germans going eastward because they believed that it created a protective border with the Soviet Union. As long as Germany didn’t take over Poland and Romania, Britain and France would not go to war with Germany. Great Britain and France thought that by threatening to attack Germany, Hitler wouldn’t risk an invasion of Poland or Romania. They were wrong.

The Nazi-Soviet Agreement

In August of 1939, Germany and Russia signed an agreement, which said they would not attack each other. While this was happening, Hitler made all German schools, from kindergarten through high school, teach the students about being in the military. Boys and girls were forced to join Hitler Youth groups, which taught military discipline.

In 1939, Hitler became interested in a deal with Joseph Stalin, the leader of the Soviet Union. Hitler recognized just how useful the Soviet Union could be as an ally of Germany. Hitler and Stalin agreed to split Poland in half and give the Soviet Union permission to take over the three Baltic Republics: Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia.

When Hitler and Stalin moved together to split Poland in 1939, Britain and France declared war on Germany. Britain and France hoped this would scare Hitler and keep Germany from invading Poland. It didn’t work. Hitler wasn’t satisfied with only half of Poland (The Soviet Union controlled the other half), so Germany attacked Poland at dawn on September 1, 1939. After short discussions on September 3, 1939, the British government demanded that Germany’s army stop attacking Poland or risk war with Britain. Germany refused. Later that day, Britain declared war on Germany. Unfortunately, Britain’s army was not ready to fight and was far from Poland. Germany took over Poland in less than a month. This was the start of World War II.

Stalin would later realize that he had made a huge mistake by letting Hitler fight three battles, one right after another. One fight was against Poland, the next against Britain and France, and the last against the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union barely survived this war against Germany.

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The Changes in Europe. <www.learn.co.uk/versailles/1919/maps.htm> Last visited: January 8, 2002.

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