The clouds of war were forming during the 1930’s and even earlier. World War I led dictators to rise, and caused anger in many people. The Treaty of Versailles was constantly being violated because of the ineffectiveness of it and the League of Nations it created. There were many causes of World War II, however it can be narrowed down into a couple of things that really pushed it over the edge. The two main causes of war were Axis power aggression and the appeasement of Axis powers, because the Allied powers and League of Nations appeased them, the aggressors could grow stronger without retaliation. A major contributor to World War II was the extreme aggression of Germany and other Axis powers. This happened with Germany’s ally first, “Italy …show more content…
Peace was all they wanted, German aggression was allowed because no one wanted another war. British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain said, “If they can settle their differences, we shall save the peace of Europe for a generation” (Document 5). He also said, “I shall not give up the hope of a peaceful solution” (Document 5). It is clear that while the intentions of peace were good, their appeasement was letting Germany grow stronger. Chamberlain said that their aggression was tolerable because there was not war, there was no need for war, and they needed to keep it that way. He concluded, “If we have to fight it must be on a larger issue that that” (Document 5). Chamberlain’s attempts to keep the peace were like many others, the threat of a possible war scared everyone. The League and Allies would do almost anything to prevent another war, including the Munich Agreement. The Munich Agreement was, “a desperate act of appeasement at the cost of the Czechoslovak state…performed in the vain hope that it would satisfy Hitler’s stormy ambition” (Document 7). The appeasement let Hitler and Germany gain power, and they kept trying to more. The thought of another war struck fear in everyone, but their fear led to bad decisions being made. The Munich Agreement was not needed and most likely is one of the final straws before the war, “it was unnecessary…because the Czech defenses were strong were very strong…and because German generals were aware that Germany was weak at the moment. They were actually prepared to attempt to remove Hitler” (Document 7). This quote proves that the lengths they took to prevent another war ended up being for the worse. Their desperation made them make a poor decision that ended up starting a war instead of keeping the peace. Appeasement was a method that worked for keeping the