Causes And Effects Of World War Ii History Essay

Over six million Jews lying dead on the streets of Europe, shoved in holes, and laying in fields of ashes. The death of millions of Jews between the 1930’s and 1940’s is known as the Holocaust and the cause of World War II. Many families were separated from each other and were never able to be together again. Mothers were torn away from their babies never knowing if they had survived the torture or were killed. Those who survived were considered blessed, but had to face the nightmares and visions of seeing babies burst into flames, and having to carry thousands of dead fragile bodies in their arms to a furnace to be set to flames and cremated.

Not many people know why this all happened to the Jews, they just know it was due to Adolf Hitler and his twisted ways and hatred towards the Jews. Many people know the Jews as Gods “Chosen Ones” who he saved from Egypt, but in Hitler’s eyes this was not so and never would be. Hitler’s ideal “chosen one” consisted of blonde hair, blue eyes, and no trace of Jewish heritage. Anyone who had a trace of Jewish background was considered unholy and sent to the ghettos where they would stay for several months and face starvation. In addition, they were marked with the Jewish star so that if anyone tried to escape they would be killed.

Every Jew that was under Hitler’s rule during this time was required to wear the Jewish star on every article of clothing they wore otherwise they would be sent to the streets and shot on the spot. Those who were sent to the ghettos remained there until the ghetto was over flowing with Jews. Once this happened they were either gathered into the center of the town where they were massacred by the German Nazi’s, or they were herded into cattle cars and shipped to concentration camps, referred as the “death camps” by the Jews.

Once the Jews, those who survived the cattle cars, arrived at the concentration camps they were separated into two lines. One line was for the young, old, and disabled who didn’t have the ability to work, and the other was for those who were capable of working. The line for the “nonworking” was sent to a separate area where they would be stripped of their clothes and shaved of all their hair. After this they were sent to a room where they would be gassed. After being gasses the prisoners at the camp were required to move the bodies to a furnace to be cremated. Those who were sent to the “able working” line were separated into housing where their fate was later decided. Some were sent to factories others sent to loading ramps. When one of Hitler’s many jobs were complete there was no need for these remaining Jews so they were sent to a room to be gassed and then cremated.

This is what most people know as the Holocaust and what tragic horror the Jews were faced with. Hitler was twisted and wanted to do away with the Jews, but how he obtained this power was due to four main outcomes after the First World War in 1914. These four main causes were the Treaty of Versailles, Hitler’s actions, the failure of appeasement, and the failure of the League of Nations.

Before Hitler came into play there was an organization in 1919, which was called League of Nations. This was an international organization that gathered together to discuss a problem that was happening at the time between countries. Their job was to solve problems in a peaceful manner. They would confront the problem to the countries in an attempt to solve it peacefully. If a country chose not to end a problem in a peacefully matter the other nations would then be requested to cut off all source of trade with the opposing country.

In 1931 the League of Nations were called together to discuss the invasion Japan put on China. During this time all the countries were suffering from a depression and because of this they were unable to afford stopping trade with Japan. Therefore, they had to decline the proposal. After the request was denied the League of Nations turned to Japan and ordered them to withdraw their troops from China. At this request Japan refused and threatened to leave the League of Nations. With this threat they were soon left alone, where they decided the only way to stop Japan was force.

During October 1935 Italy sent an invasion on Abyssinia knowing that they had no military strength or ability to defend there selves. Immediately, Abyssinia turned to the League in hopes to prevent more attacks on them. The league then turned to the idea of stopping trade with Italy but soon found it was a waste of time and would have little effect due to the countries who were not apart of the war; mainly America.

One main reason why the League of Nations was so unsuccessful was due to America refusing to join, even though at the time Wilson was the founder of the League. Before the countries were able to sign the treaty America had a new president elected who was Republican and felt that it was unnecessary and unbeneficial towards the US to sign. Germany and Russia were also not aloud to sign because of World War I and the fear of rising communism. When a problem came into play the league asked all other countries to stop trade with the country causing problems at the time. This was soon found unbeneficial due to the non-league countries. This was how the League of Nations failed.

After the First World War had ended there was another meeting held in 1919 by four powerful leaders to represent their nation. They came together to discuss the out come of the after-war-effects and how Germany would pay for their actions they had committed. These four leaders were, “Lloyd George of England, Orlando of Italy, Clemenceau of France, and Woodrow Wilson from the United Sates.” (The History on the Net Group) There were drawn out discussions on what they should do and how they should carry it out. Wilson insisted on using his Fourteen-point plan which required nations to get rid of their weaponry army’s and learn to solve things in a peaceful manner. Even though George agreed with Wilson he had to think of the needs of his people and how they would want to handle things. Clemenceau on the other hand wanted revenge and wanted the Germans to pay for all the terror and heartbreak they had caused.

After discussing what to do with the Germans the four leaders finally created the Treaty of Versailles. This was a treaty that made Germany pay for all the trouble they had caused without taking a forceful revenge on them. It required them to pay 6,600 million dollars to the countries they had destroyed, which gave the destroyed countries the ability to repair their towns and cities as needed. Also, the Germans had to give up the land they had taken and give it back to the countries they had stolen it from. Along with the amount of money and land Germany had to give back, their military force was also brutally attacked. An army of only six naval ships was permitted to the Germans, and they were not aloud to have any source of air force, submarines or tanks. They went from the most powerful nation in the world to having a patrolled army losing everything they had. If that wasn’t enough, Germany was no longer allowed to create a union or alliance with Austria, forcing them away from their top ally.

The German people were disgusted with this proposition and felt they were being treated too harsh. This treaty lead to a big upset with the German people, since they were already faced with a depression in the 1920’s. Many of their people were living on the streets and facing poverty and starvation; they felt there was no way they would be able to pay off their loans to the other countries due to this. The people were “dissatisfied with the government” (The History on the Net Group) and felt the need to vote someone into power who would do away with the Treaty of Versailles and lead Germany out of a depression, and with this need came Adolf Hitler.

During Hitler’s campaigning in Germany he made many speeches where he promised the German people that he would destroy the Treaty of Versailles and take back what Hitler felt was so rightfully German territory. He used his strong speaking skills to entice the people and pull them into his speeches giving them exactly what they wanted to hear during their time of need. So in January 1933, the people of Germany voted Hitler as Chancellor of German where he immediately began to create an army. As he did so this gave many people jobs, making him look as if he were some sort of hero. In 1934 Hitler went against the Treaty of Versailles and began building aircrafts, tanks, submarines, and large size warships. Even though France and Britain knew of Hitler’s rise of a building army they didn’t feel it necessary to do anything about it because of their fear of communism. They also felt that Germany had the right to protect itself from other invading countries.

In 1936 Germany began to make their move as Hitler ordered his troops into Rhineland where they took over the land. Even though France and Britain knew of this action they didn’t do anything to prevent it in fear of starting another war, which they felt their people could not withstand and were still healing from the last World War. So, because of this they sat back and tried to make peace offerings with Hitler. During this time Germany made two strong and deadly alliances with Italy and Japan. The first alliance was made with Italy, which was called the Rome-Berlin Axis Pact, and the second was made with Japan, which Hitler called the Anti-Cimitern Pact. This gave them control of both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

Once Hitler had established two strong allies he moved onto taking over Germans “stolen” land, which had been ripped from them in 1919 when the Treaty of Versailles was put into play. Still going against the Treaty; Hitler sent his troops into Austria, in March 1938, where they forced the Austrian Leader to hold a vote on whether the Austrian people wanted an alliance with German. This ended up having a great impact on the people where 99 percent of Austria’s population wanted the alliance with German. When Austria’s leader pleaded for help from France, Italy, and Britain they refused. They were too scared of the idea of entering into another war, because of this they decided to sit back and let things happen.

As Hitler pushed for the expansion of his empire he decided to take it one step further, with the demand of Czechoslovakia. When the news of this demand by Hitler reached Neville Chamberlain, who was the prime Minister of Britain, he rushed to meet with Hitler in hopes to end his invasions and prevent a war from breaking out. After meeting with Hitler several times, in September 1938, Chamberlain returned to Britain with the belief that he had won and that Hitler would stop his invasions, this was known as the Munich Agreement. This agreement granted Germany the invasion of Czechoslovakia but also stated that Hitler wouldn’t invade anymore countries once he acquired Czechoslovakia. This was a victory for Britain but little did they know that Hitler would go against his word once again and still continue to expand the German land and create an empire.

Due to Hitler’s greed and hatred towards the Jewish people, over 6 million Jews living in Europe were killed by German Nazi’s at the power of Adolf Hitler. The reason why Hitler gained his power was because the German people were provoked by consequences Germany was forced to face after the First World War. Being blamed for the cause of the war they felt their government was letting them down by accepting the punishments that was presented to them. Along came Adolf Hitler who promised to due away with the treaties and Germany felt they had found a hero; someone to make Germany proud. Once he came into power he began giving people jobs, which helped them move off the streets, and went against the treaties just as the people hoped their country would do. It didn’t help matters that France and Britain sat back and let this leader become so powerful and deadly that he was willing to do anything to create an empire. He was a hero to the German people at the time, but this Hero caused the death of millions of people and started the Second World War.