Treaty of Versailles
Left the Germans angry and bitter, eager for revenge. The Allies forced the Germans to accept heavy territorial losses, huge reparations, blame for the war and disarmament. Here was the basis for another war.
The League of Nations
Set up to keep world peace but was weak and ineffective. Japan’s invasion of Manchuria and Italy’s attack on Abyssinia showed the league as useless. The failure of the World Disarmament Conference, organised by the League, was also a grave disappointment.
The Great Depression
Shattered the prosperity and goodwill of the late 1920s. The Germans turned to Adolf Hitler who promised to turn over the Treaty of Versailles and make Germany great again. In Japan a government decided the answer to the depression was to expand overseas to Manchuria. Even Mussolini’s invasion of Abyssinia was in part an attempt to take the Italians’ minds away from there economic troubles.
Hitler
From the very beginning Hitler intended a major war. The moves into the Rhineland, Austria and Czechoslovakia were all steps in a plan to eventually invade Poland and Russia. In fact the whole of Germany was geared towards war.
Appeasement
A French force could have easily stopped German troops from marching into Rhineland in 1936. By giving in to Hitler, Britain and France encouraged him to demand more and more territory. When it came to Poland in 1939 Hitler was convinced Britain and France would once again give in. Chamberlain should have backed the Czechs at Munich. Czechoslovakia was militarily strong and would have proved a much more useful ally than did Poland in 1939.