What Started World War II?

Understanding what started world war II is not easy. World war I was caused by the assassination of the Archduke of Austria-Hungary. However, world war II was not caused by a single country or a single event.

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1. What started the first world war?
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To really understand what started World War II, we should take a look at the events that unfolded during the interwar period.

What started World War II?

Interwar period

Germany

The Weimar Republic

During the first world war, German emperor Wilhelm II was ruling Germany. However, at the end of the war, he fled to the Netherlands. The government that came to power after that was called the Weimar Republic. To bring an end to the war, the Weimar Republic signed the armistice and the Treaty of Versailles.

French soldiers occupy Germany

Besides money, Germany was also forced to pay coal supplies to France because France lost its coal mines in the war. However, the amount of coal France demanded was technically impossible for Germany to produce. 

Naturally, Germany failed to meet the demands of coal payments. Annoyed, the French soldiers occupied the Coal-mining region of Germany.

The Rise of Hitler

Like most Germans at that time, he believed that Germany could have won World War 1. Like most Germans, he hated the Weimar Republic for surrendering and agreeing to the harsh terms of the Treaty of Versailles. He believed that Jews were behind all this.

Hitler joins a party 

Hitler had no career prospects since he lacked formal education. So, even after the war was over, Hitler tried to remain in the army. He was given a job as an intelligence officer in July 1919. Once, he was sent to investigate a small party called the German Workers' Party (DAP), whose members were German nationalists who hated Jews. 

While investigating the party, their views attracted Hitler. So (and also due to his superiors' orders), in 1919, he joined the party as its 55th member.

Hilter restructures his party

Hence the prison sentence was actually advantageous to Hitler.

The Dawes Plan spoils Hitler's plans

Hence, people became content with the moderate Weimar Republic. So, it became difficult for far-left (Communism) and far-right (Nazism) parties to succeed politically.

This is evident from the fact that, even though the Nazi party grew several-fold during this time (27,000 members in 1925 to 130,000 in 1929), the number of seats won by the party in the German parliament actually fell by more than 50% (32 seats in 1924 to 12 seats in 1928). Therefore, the years 1923 - 1929 are called the lean years of the Nazi party. 

The Great Depression aids the growth of the Nazi party

When the Great Depression hit the USA, it was not able to continue to lend money to Germany. As a result, Germany's economy crumbled once again. Unemployment became a real problem. By 1933, almost 1 in 3 Germans were unemployed. 

Consequently, poverty became prevalent. Hence, people started losing faith in the conservative Weimar Republic. Therefore, it became easy for the far-right (Nazis) and far-left (Communists) parties to gain political support. 

The upper-class people did not appreciate the communist concept of equal wealth distribution. In comparison, the 25-point program (establishing a third Reich by eliminating social class and making Germany home to only German-speaking people, blaming the Jews for all the problems and making Hitler the only head of the entire hierarchy, etc.) appealed to all classes of people including upper-class businessmen, middle-class workers, nationalists, and farmers.

As a result, the Nazi party gained enormous political support. In 1928, the Nazi party held only 12 seats in the German parliament. However, in 1932, it won 230 seats and became the largest party. 

Even though the Nazis were the largest political party, Hitler couldn't win the presidential elections to become the chancellor. However, after a chain of political dramas, Hitler became the chancellor of Germany in January 1933.

By that time, the Nazi party's army (SA) had around 2 million members.

Hitler as the German Chancellor

On the other hand, he also spent a lot of money on programs that benefited the public, like building the Autobahn (German highways). Even though these measures brought prosperity to Germany, in effect, Hitler had successfully transformed democratic Germany into a dictatorship.

The goal of the Nazi party was to create a Third Reich that united genetically superior (according to the Nazi party) Germans under one country while eliminating other races like the Slavs and Jews. 

Hitler's plans of expansion begin

In 1938, Hitler started the realization of this goal. He annexed German-speaking Austria as a federal state of Germany. He also wanted to annex Sudetenland, a part of Czechoslovakia, where a lot of Germans lived. Hitler said that it would be the last demand he makes from Europe. So, to avoid another world war, leaders of France, Britain, and Italy forced Czechoslovakia to surrender Sudetenland. 

However, in March next year, German troops invaded the rest of Czechoslovakia. In September, Germany invaded Poland as well. So, Britain and France declared war on Germany, and the second world war began in Europe.

Italy

Let's look at the events that unfolded in Italy to understand what started world war II.

World War 1

Italy had four times as many soldiers as the number of Austro-Hungarian troops in the Italian front. However, Austria-Hungary had highly skilled soldiers, better machinery, and a superior foothold in the mountains. Therefore, the war on the Eastern Front didn't end as soon as Italy had hoped. Indeed, Italy won only by taking drastic measures and with the help of Britain and France. 

Italy's humiliation

When the war ended, Italy had lost 700,000 soldiers and suffered from a budget deficit. Despite that, Italy did not get any of the German colonies after the war. It did not get any territory from the (disintegration of the) Ottoman Empire either. All of these were claimed by Britain and France. 

To add insult to injury, Italy got only fewer territories as promised during the start of the war, for which it joined the war in the first place. Italy felt humiliated, and this annoyed most Italians. 

The Two Red years

In addition to that, Italy's economy was in shatters by now. To support the war, Italy had printed a lot of money. As a result, the value of money decreased. In 1920, the value of one Lira (Italian currency) had reduced to only one-sixth six of its value as in 1913. 

Due to the end of the war, major arms and ammunition factories, as well as shipment factories, were closed. As a result, the soldiers returning from the war became unemployed due to a lack of jobs. Unemployment rose to two million, and poverty loomed over the country. 

This led to political turmoil and widespread civilian revolts in Italy. Hence, the years 1919 and 1920 came to be known as the 'Two Red years' in Italian history.

The Rise of Mussolini

To understand what started world war II, it is necessary to understand how a journalist was able to become the dictator of a country. 

Mussolini's views change

In August 1914, at the beginning of the first world war, the Italian socialist party opposed the war. Mussolini supported its decision by saying, "Down with the war. We remain neutral."

However, as the war progressed, his views changed. He got taken over by the idea of anti-Austrian Italian nationalism. He believed that the war offered an opportunity to liberate hundreds of thousands of Italians from the Austro-Hungarian rule. Therefore, he accused the Central powers of trying to colonize Belgium (because Germany attacked Belgium at the start of the war), and Serbia (because Austria-Hungary declared war against Serbia) in the present, and Denmark, France, and Italy in the past.

He believed that this is an opportunity for the Italian nation to become bigger and accused socialism for failing to see it. So, he resigned from the editorship of the party's newspaper, in which he had previously written articles opposing the war. Soon, he started his own newspaper and started writing articles supporting the war. So, due to his contrasting views and support of the war, he was expelled from the socialist party. 

After being ousted from the party, his love for orthodox socialism was lost, and his love for revolutionary nationalism was born. In October 1914, he founded the 'Revolutionary Fasci for International Action.' Its members, who called themselves fascists, would later take over Italy. 

Due to his support for the war, he got funds from several companies, including an arms firm, and French sources who wanted Italy to join the war on their side. 

Mussolini in the first world war

Mussolini and Plato

Mussolini often read books of various philosophers. Of these, he was greatly influenced by the works of Plato. Mussolini created several principles of fascism using the ideas of Plato.

The main principles of Mussolini's Fascism are:

1. The country (state) is the ultimate object.
2.  Democracy must be abolished.
3.  The country should be ruled by an elite individual. 
4.  All the citizens must perform their civic duties to the country.
5.  Create a class of warriors so that the country can be militarized. 
6.  Control the education system so that future rulers and warriors can be created.

Mussolini claimed that, due to its growing population, Italy needed more place to sustain itself economically. So, it had the right to colonize the nearby countries consisting of genetically inferior people (like Slavs and Africans).

Fascism gains momentum

Coming out of the first world war, Italy suffered from an economic recession. Hence, the years 1919-1920 were called the 'Two Red Years' in Italian history.

During these two years, workers' unions started demanding higher wages; peasants took the lands for themselves; agricultural workers went on strike during harvest time; peasants seized lands for themselves, and; shops were looted or destroyed. Simply put, landowners, shopkeepers, and industrialists in Italy faced a very hard time. The political parties were divided between themselves to do anything about it. 

During these years, fascists started creating groups of armed war veterans called black shirts. Using violence to get things done was their motto. By 1920, funded by landowners and industrialists, they started breaking up political meetings, labor unions, and agricultural workers' organizations.   

These armed militias enjoyed the support of landowners, shopkeepers, and, surprisingly, students too. Using their support, fascists created more of these armed groups across Italy. 

They overthrew locally elected councils and set up fascist squad leaders as heads of several rural areas in Italy. Thus, fascists started becoming politically strong. In 1921, the Italian fascist party became an official political party. The same year, 35 fascists were elected into the parliament.

Mussolini becomes the Prime Minister

In 1922, in front of his supporters, Mussolini declared, "Either the government will be given to us or we shall seize it by marching on Rome." True to his word, he organized the 'March on Rome.' Fascist supporters (many of them armed) from all over Italy poured into Rome. Once in Rome, they occupied all the government buildings. 

The idea itself was terrible. About 30,000 fascists, armed mostly with agricultural tools, would be going up against the army. The Prime Minister wanted to call the military for help. But, King Victor Emmanuel III, fearing a civil war, just after the loss of so many lives in World War 1, made Mussolini the Prime Minister.

Mussolini as the Prime Minister

Over the next few years, his party committed some grave mistakes, like securing votes against a no-confidence vote by violence and killing an opposition party member who questioned the incident. In response, the opposition parties boycotted the parliament. 

So, the Blackshirts demanded that Mussolini crush his opposition. He feared that his own troops might revolt against him if he did not oblige. 

Therefore, between 1925 and 1927, Mussolini abolished elections, opposition parties, and unions, as well as the freedom of speech and association, and made himself answerable only to the king and not to the parliament. It is noteworthy that, during the same period, several failed assassination attempts were made against Mussolini. 

Japan

In Germany and Italy, events that happened after the first world war directly led to the second world war. However, in Japan, the grounds for the second world war were laid almost 90 years before that. So, to understand what started world war 2, we have to take a look at these events.

Japan becomes a democracy

During the first world war, Japan fought as an ally of Britain. But its job was limited to taking over the German colonies in China. Therefore, unlike the western countries, it did not suffer much due to the first world war. If anything, Japan's economy grew during and after the first world war.

Due to its stable economy, Japan moved towards democracy during the 1920s. Two-party system came into existence.

Extreme nationalism is born

The Great Depression of 1929 destroyed the economies of several countries directly. Japan, however, was not affected directly. 

Since Japan has become highly industrial, its economy depended on its exports. Due to the Great Depression, Japan's exports reduced tremendously, since other countries stopped importing Japanese goods (Eg. Silk). 

As Japan had scarce natural resources, it needed to import raw materials to keep its industries (and military) alive. However, when the exports fell, Japan didn't have enough money to import (buy) raw materials. Hence, the imports reduced as well, thus affecting the economy. As a result, unemployment surged, and food became scarce. 

One way for Japan to boost its economy was to expand its territory by invading other Asian countries (Korea, Manchuria, China, etc.). This would have given Japan two advantages. 

1. It wouldn't have to import raw materials. It can just take these raw materials from the invaded countries. 
2. Major western powers could not suffocate Japan's economy by not exporting raw materials to it. 

This view was widely accepted, particularly by the young officers in the army. Hence, the positions in the political parties were taken up by military officers, who favored expansionism and extreme nationalism.

The League of Nations  

The League of Nations was formed to maintain peace throughout the world. However, most powerful countries at that time, like the USA, the Soviet Union, and Germany, were not its members. The USA decided not to join; the Soviet Union was excluded because it was a communist country, and; Germany was excluded because it started the first world war. 

Moreover, the League of Nations did not have any military of its own. So, the only way it could punish violent nations was by issuing economic sanctions. When an economic sanction is issued against a nation, other countries don't trade with it. To this extent, the power of the League of Nations depended directly on the cooperation between its members. 

However, due to the Great Depression, the economies of countries suffered greatly. So, every country tried to save its own economy. They knew that if they didn't trade with a country, other countries would take their place. So, they were reluctant to go along with the sanctions issued by the League of Nations. 

As a result, when the League of Nations issued sanctions against Japan, due to its invasion of Manchuria, its members did not oblige. This gave the confidence for Italy and Germany to continue their violent expansionist policies. Similarly, when Italy invaded Ethiopia, other countries did not go through with the sanctions issued by the League of Nations against Italy. 

The absence of a strong committee to oversee peace was one of the major reasons for the growth of extreme nationalism in Japan, Italy, and Germany that ultimately led to the second world war.

What started World War II - The Summary

Unlike world war I, which was started by a bullet, what started world war II was a string of events.

• Harsh conditions imposed on Germany by the Treaty of Versailles increased the hatred of Germans against UK and France.
• Economic downturn, political turmoil and workers' revolts affected Italian industrialists during the 'Two Red years'. Therefore, they funded the fascists led by Mussolini, who advocated violence to come to power. He crushed labor unions, destroyed democracy and established dictatorship. But his policies improved Italian economy. So, eventually Italians started supporting him.
• The Great Depression of 1929 made people desperate. It helped extreme nationalism grow unchecked in Germany, Italy and Japan, by providing people jobs as soldiers. It also aided the growth of Arms and Shipment industries, which gave people more jobs. 
• The League of Nations had no military. So, it could only punish nations by issuing economic sanctions against aggressive countries. However, due to the Great Depression, several of the member nations did not stop trading against these countries, to prevent their own economies from degrading further. This greatly undermined the power of the League of Nations. 
• The UK, the USA and France wanted to avoid another huge war. So, they turned a blind eye when other countries become over-aggressive. This gave Japan, Italy and Germany the confidence to pursue their nationalist expansionist policies without repercussions.