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"Bolshevism" or Communism
Whent he Bolshevik party seized power in Russia, they quickly tried to extended their regime to many nearby countries. Hungary and Bavaria were swiftly taken by theidealistic views of communism. However, many countries in Central and Western Europe like Germany and Italy, feared that they would fall to the Communist revolution. This helped cause unrest among the German people. -
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The Road to World War Two
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Failure of the League of Nations
After World War One, countries came to together to discuss a way to achieve a common goal: lasting world peace. This organization ended in failure. The reason it failed was because it lacked the power it needed to reinforce the peace it so much wanted to protect. Not all countries joined. The League also lacked real military power to make countries take notice. Therefore, Axis countries, such as Japan and Italy, saw no threat to this organization and did whatever they wanted. -
The Treaty of Versailles
After World War one had ended, a meeting was held by the Lloyd George of England, Orlando of Italy, Clemenceau of France and Woodrow Wilson from the US to discuss how Germany should "pay" for the damage caused in WW2. These four countries caused Germany to suffer. Their money was made worthless, their military was limited to only 100,000 soldiers, and land was taken to be given away to other countries. This made Germany very displeased and incited their anger. -
Hitler Rises to Power
Soon after Hitler became Chancellor of Germany, he began secretly building up Germany's army and weapons. Britain and France did nothing to stop this because they thought that a more powerful Germany could help Communism from spreading, even though this goes directly against the Treaty of Versailles. Little did they know, that because they gave Hitler a chance that he would help cause a world war by inciting the anger of the German people and building up a powerful army. -
Rhineland
Disregarding the Treaty of Versailles, Hitler used his newly made army to take Rhineland. Germany's military was not powerful at the time, so the neither French or tBritain showed any sign of movement. Because France and Britain ignored Hitler's rise to power and this event, they gave Germany a chance to further build up their strength for their next territorial expansion. -
Germany's Invasion of Poland
Due to Britain's and France's ignorance, Hitler believed he could do anything he wanted and nobody would stop him. Hitler sought to prove Germany's refound power to his people by taking over Europe, starting with Poland. Contrary to his beliefs, this was the trigger event for starting the war. Britain and France finally saw a threat to Hitlers actions and declared war, though Hitler saw no threat to this.
