StudentShare
Contact Us
Sign In / Sign Up for FREE
Search
Go to advanced search...
Free

Western Civilization. Second World War - Essay Example

Cite this document
Summary
An event as catastrophic and disastrous as a world war cannot be a result of any single cause. Like a volcano that is simmering till the inner pressures causes it to erupt, so the simmering discontent of the German people finally resulted in the Second World War…
Download full paper File format: .doc, available for editing
GRAB THE BEST PAPER92.7% of users find it useful
Western Civilization. Second World War
Read Text Preview

Extract of sample "Western Civilization. Second World War"

?Western Civilization An event as catastrophic and disastrous as a world war cannot be a result of any single cause. Like a volcano that is simmeringtill the inner pressures causes it to erupt, so the simmering discontent of the German people finally resulted in the Second World War. The basic causes of war are always found in international rivalries, thwarted desires of nations, and the ambitions of their leaders. Most historians agree that the seeds of the Second World War have been sown soon after the end of the First World War. During the months and years after the First World War, political and economic events like the treaty of Versailles, the great economic depression of 1929, the rise of Nazism, and Hitler’s ambitions for German expansion were some of the causes of the war to come. The treaty of Versailles signed in June 1919 by the allied powers who were the victors of the First World War was very harsh on Germany and held the country solely responsible for the war. The German people believed that Woodrow Wilson’s fourteen points program would be the basis for the treaty, but the French president Georges Clemenceau and the British prime minister David Lloyd George bowed before the anger of their people who demanded that Germany should be severely punished for the suffering and devastation caused. The sentiment of the allies was as follows, “If these things are hardships for Germany, they are hardships which Germany has brought upon herself” (“Allied Reply”). The humiliating terms of the treaty whipped up feelings of anger and frustration among the Germans. Territorial losses, the reduction of the army and navy, and, above all, the fact that Germany was forced to accept the responsibility for having caused the war, were particularly galling. According to the treaty, Germany was forced to pay reparation for the damages suffered in the war by the victors; the map of Europe was redrawn, and parts of Germany were transferred to countries like France, Poland, Belgium, Denmark, and Czechoslovakia. The reparations that Germany was forced to pay was an added burden on the country’s already stretched finances. The German economy, in shambles after the war, was further eroded by the fact that the country had lost some of its colonies that were rich sources of income and raw materials. Besides the economic burden, Germany had lost millions of her able bodied men who would have constituted a strong work force. The people thought the government had betrayed them, so they did not trust it. The monarchy was overthrown and a new democratic republic called the Weimar Republic was proclaimed; it fell in 1933 under the onslaught of the myriad problems Germany faced. Hitler used the treaty of Versailles as a battle cry to rally the people and promised that Germany would take her rightful place as a strong nation before long. This was a balm to the wounded pride of the nation, and people were ready to back Hitler by 1933. By 1929, the German economy was just beginning to recover from the effects of the First World War with the efforts of Gustav Stresemann, Germany’s untiring foreign minister, beginning to show results. The stock market crash of 1929 that reverberated across the globe and sent financial markets around the world into a tailspin also crushed German hopes of economic recovery. The German economy, propped up by loans from America, was “only flourishing on the surface. Germany is in fact dancing on a volcano. If the short-term credits are called in, a large section of our economy would collapse” (“Weimar Republic and the Great Depression”). Just before Stresemann’s death, his words have proved prophetic. The German economy, which depended on American loans for capital, was badly hit when America needed the funds to prop up her own faltering economy after the crash. Foreign trade dried up, and German industry ground to a halt. As a result, workers were laid off, which has increased unemployment and resulted in the misery of the people just beginning to look forward to a brighter future after the hardships inflicted by the First World War. The government was helpless, as the banks failed and the weakened economy gave rise to inflation, putting essential goods and commodities beyond the reach of the average person. The people’s hard earned life’s savings suddenly disappeared due to events beyond their control, so they were devastated and bewildered. In July 1930, in an effort to control inflation, Chancellor Bruning sought to cut government expenditure, wages, and unemployment allowances. Angry, bitter, and goaded beyond endurance by the policies of the democratic government that could not help them people were willing to follow anyone who promised a solution to their misery. This fuelled the growth of Nazism. The years immediately after the stock market crash saw a sudden rise in the ranks of the Nazis. In 1928, the Nazis had 12 seats in the Reichstag, while by 1932 they were in a majority, and soon, by 1933, Hitler became Chancellor. After that, he took some steps to achieve his aim of restoring Germany’s pride that had been badly bruised after the end of the First World War. After becoming Chancellor, he told his fellow countrymen, “We are all proud that through God's powerful aid we have become once more true Germans” (“Relevant to Today: Excerpts From Adolf Hitler’s Speeches”). He made military service compulsory, began building warships, amassing weapons, building up an air force, and increasing the size of his army. In 1936, Hitler made two important pacts with Italy and Japan. His next step was to begin the systematic takeover of lands that had formerly belonged to Germany. In 1938, German troops marched into Austria and forced a vote for Anschluss, or union, with Germany. Although France and Britain were aware of these moves, they preferred to do nothing in order to avoid another war. Although Hitler always indicated that his latest conquest would be his last, he never kept his word and carried on, demanding first that Sudetenland be handed over to Germany and then invading Czechoslovakia. The Allied powers were still not prepared to go to war. "However much we may sympathize with a small nation confronted by a big and powerful neighbor, we cannot in all circumstances undertake to involve the whole British Empire in war simply on her account”( “Neville Chamberlain on Appeasement (1939)”). The treaty of Munich that Hitler had signed after he received Sudetenland with the promise he would not lay claim to any more territories was broken when he invaded Czechoslovakia. The last straw was Hitler’s blitzkrieg on Poland on September 1st 1939. Having tried appeasement to avoid the bloodshed and misery of another war and having failed, the allies were left with no choice but to declare war on Germany. In many respects, the Second World War was only a continuation of the disputes and the seething anger that was a result of the First World War. The uneasy truce during the period between the two wars was only aggravated by the unfortunate stock market crash of 1929 and the weakness of the League of Nations that was a toothless watchdog. Adolf Hitler was only the catalyst that ignited the powder keg that Europe had become – another conflagration was inevitable. The resulting war was the largest and the most lethal conflict in the history of the world. Works Cited “Neville Chamberlain on Appeasement (1939)”. The History Guide. n.p., 13 May 2004. Web. 11 May 2012. “Allied Reply to German Delegates’ Protest Against Proposed Peace Terms at the Paris Peace Conference, May 1919”. firstworldwar.com. n.p. 22 Aug. 2009. Web. 11 May 2012. “Relevant to Today: Excerpts From Adolf Hitler’s Speeches”. Cephas Ministry Inc. n.p., n.d. Web. 11 May 2012. “Weimar Republic and the Great Depression”. History Learning Site.co.uk. n.p., n.d. Web. 11 May 2012. Read More
Cite this document
  • APA
  • MLA
  • CHICAGO
(“Western Civilization. Second World War Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words”, n.d.)
Retrieved from https://studentshare.org/history/1398788-western-civilization
(Western Civilization. Second World War Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 Words)
https://studentshare.org/history/1398788-western-civilization.
“Western Civilization. Second World War Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 Words”, n.d. https://studentshare.org/history/1398788-western-civilization.
  • Cited: 0 times

CHECK THESE SAMPLES OF Western Civilization. Second World War

The Clash of Civilization in the Arab World

The western civilization is incorporated in areas like Eastern Europe, Latin America whose cultures closely resemble each other, while Middle East cultures also resemble.... Civilizations have borrowed ideologies from different cultures, as Al-Rodhan continues to state that the Arab world played an important role in the western civilization (3).... The western civilization can attribute the role of the Arab culture in the Renaissance, Reformation and Enlightenment period in Europe and America....
7 Pages (1750 words) Research Paper

Western And Byzantine Civilizations

hellip; The western civilization comprised of others who took over the western regions and adopted much of the Roman culture which they admired, using Latin side by side with their tribal languages.... Eastern Orthodoxy was the dominant religious belief and a new imperial law was devised, which resulted in a unified imperial Government, unlike the fractured tribes of the western civilization.... nbsp;The second document is written by the court historian and biographer Procopius....
3 Pages (750 words) Essay

History Exam

How did the early contacts between different civilizations – in Spain, along the Silk Road, and in Africa – play a role in re-orienting world history away from Mesopotamia and Asia and towards the Atlantic Ocean?... As long as there was a constant flow of people of different civilisations along the silk road, “ Central Asia was the Making use of the contacts acquired along the silk route, Europe, and especially Spain, was learning several things from Asia, China and the Islamic world....
10 Pages (2500 words) Research Paper

The Clash of Civilizations

Huntington, is a path breaking book that came out in the 1990s, which put forth the theory that “the central and most dangerous dimension of the emerging global politics would be the conflict… The book had suggested that “an international order based on the civilizations is the surest safeguard against world war” (Huntington, 1998, pp.... These civilizations have been listed as the western civilization, Latin America, former Soviet Union, Eastern world, Muslim countries, Sub-Saharan African nations, and also the lone countries (Huntington, 1998)....
7 Pages (1750 words) Term Paper

The Evolution of Human Society

The following paper entitled 'The Evolution of Human Society' presents a remarkable consensus concerning the legitimacy of liberal democracy as a system of government had emerged throughout the world over the past few years, as it conquered rival ideologies.... rdquo; He acknowledges that “nation-states will remain the most powerful actors in world affairs,” but in the future, their conflicts will “occur between nations and groups of civilizations”....
7 Pages (1750 words) Literature review

History of Civilization

History of Civilization: Why European Civilization Rather than any of the other Major Civilizations was the only one to Expand Successfully Overseas and Establish a Global Presence between the 15th and Early 19th Centuries There have been a number of different civilizations… However, the successes achieved by the European civilization in overseas expansion and the establishment of a global presence is seen to cause this civilization to be recognized The predominance that is seen to characterize western civilization across the world is seen to be relatively unprecedented largely due to the fact that although many civilizations emerged before the European civilization and actually managed to radiate their influence far beyond the borders of their original homeland, these civilizations had nevertheless not managed to cast and sustain their predominance right around the globe....
6 Pages (1500 words) Essay

Is the Huntington Thesis of the Clash of Civilizations Inevitable

The following research paper "Is the Huntington Thesis of the Clash of Civilizations Inevitable" explores the fact that Huntington puts a hypothesis in Foreign Affairs that is 'intended to supply Americans with an original thesis about “a new phase” in world politics after the end of the Cold war".... 2) hypothesis, in the new world (post-Cold-war) fundamental source of conflict will not be ideological or economic.... His core claim is, in a post-Cold war world, differences based on civilization will become the root of conflict rather than ideology, politics or economics, and this 'clash of civilization' is the greatest threat in coming days....
12 Pages (3000 words) Research Paper

The Clash of Civilizations and How Development Leads to Democracy

ccording to Huntington's point of view, interstate relationships in the post-Cold war era will be mainly influenced by the factors of civilizations.... Huntington claimed that in the new world, the most lethal, dangerous, and extensive conflicts won't be between economic or social classes, but between people from different cultural backgrounds.... Unlike such arguments, the clash of civilization concept claims that the loyalties of people in today's world are shifting from mere national, religious, or ethnic factors to the wider level of civilization backgrounds that transcend state boundaries....
7 Pages (1750 words) Assignment
sponsored ads
We use cookies to create the best experience for you. Keep on browsing if you are OK with that, or find out how to manage cookies.
Contact Us