The Three Main Causes Of World War II

Over 60 million people, soldiers and civilians alike, died in World War II. Have you ever wondered what caused this terrible catastrophe (By the Numbers: World-Wide Deaths)? There were three main causes of World War II, the rise of fascism and militarism, fallout from the Treaty of Versailles, and the ineffectiveness of the League of Nations. The start of World War II may have surprised many countries, but things had been building up to a big war for a while. One of the biggest causes of World War II was the Treaty of Versailles from the end of World War I. Germany was forced to take most of the blame for WWI and also had to pay massive reparations for the war. They also lost a lot of land and colonies and had many limitations put on their military. Together with the onset of the Great Depression, this crippled Germany’s economy and embarrassed them. It made the people so desperate to get out of this slump that they gave power to someone who promised to make

Starting in the 1920s, two fascist parties rose to power in Italy and Germany. In Italy, Benito Mussolini and his National Fascist Party rose to power and eventually transformed the country into a police state, with Mussolini as its dictator. Meanwhile in Germany, Adolf Hitler and his fascist National Socialist German Workers Party, known as the Nazis, started to gain political power. They attracted many followers with their promises to make their country powerful again and their quest for racial purity. A few years later in the Pacific, the militaristic Empire of Japan started invading surrounding islands and countries and signed a treaty with Italy and Germany. Hitler assumed Chancellorship in 1933, around the time Mussolini became dictator, and started his work of “purifying” Germany. A few years later, Hitler became Führer and after that, he quit the League of Nations and started invading neighboring countries