Rahimi 1 Tara Rahimi Mr.

Greaney WHAP period 4 April 8, 2013 DBQ: The Road to War The beginning of the 1920s started out peacefully, but by the end of the decade and throughout the 1930s, signs of war were starting to show. Countries such as Germany, Italy, and Japan started taking aggressive actions. The British Prime Minister Chamberlain suggested that the best way to deal with Hitler was by making a policy of appeasement. European nations waited for the worst before forcing Hitler to halt his invasive actions. Therefore, Hitlers invasions, the League of Nations, and their appeasement were the main reasons the world plunged into World War II and the most effective response to aggression is collective security.

After the First World War, Germany faced many negative economic impacts during the 1930s. People were out of jobs, and the value of the German Mark was next to nothing. The Germans were desperately looking for a miracle that could take them out of their economic slump into prosperity. When Hitler became the dictator of Nazi Germany in 1934, he started blaming the Jews for Germanys misfortunes and promised to do everything in his power to bring wealth back to Germany. Part of his plan to revive Germany was to take territories back for the nation not by flaming protests, but by a mighty sword (Doc 1). In this particular passage of his book, Hitler explained that he would forcefully expand into other countries. He kept his promise by sending German troops to Rhineland, a buffer zone between France and Germany, in 1936. Afterwards, Hitler explained his actions by saying: I look up this day as marking the close of the struggle for German equality status... (Doc 3). Hitler lied to Europe, claiming that Rhineland would be his last invasion, but in reality, it was only the beginning of his aggression. After Rhineland, Hitler started invading more and more countries, which assured the world a

Rahimi 2 rising of another great war. The League of Nations lack of proper action by continuing to appease Hitler was another reason the world plunged into World War II.

A main cause for World War II was the policy of appeasement and the League of Nations weak attempt to try to stop Hitler. When Italy attacked Ethiopia in 1935, Haile Selassie, the emperor of Ethiopia, requested the League of Nations help to stop the invasion. However, the League's lack of response resulted in full invasion of Ethiopia. Selassie said, "God and history will remember your judgment... It is us today. It will be you tomorrow" (Doc 2). Selassie was saying that the League of Nations would essentially suffer for not helping Ethiopia in their time of need. After Hitler sent his military into the Rhineland, Paris appealed to the league. France has laid Germanys latest treaty violation before the Council of the League of Nations (Doc 3). France asked the League to remove Germany from the Rhineland diplomatically or with stronger pressure, but the league still did not take action. Chamberlain wanted to deal with Hitler with appeasement and in Munich Chamberlin stated, With little good will and determination, it is possible to remove grievances and clear away suspicion we must try to bring these four nations into friendly discussion. If they can settle their differences, we shall save the peace of Europe for a generation (Doc 5). Chamberlain later stated in The Times that he did not want to give up his hope of a peaceful solution. Winston Churchill, however, disagreed with Chamberlain and in his speech to Parliament in 1938 he warned England about the policy of appeasement. He also spoke out to the League of Nations, saying that Nazi Germany has weakened the League and have put Europe in a position where they dont have strong national defense or an international system of security. The weakened League and the policy of appeasement plunged Europe into World War II. An effective response to aggression would have been collective security.

Collective security would have been a much better way to respond to aggression because appeasement was not effective. Appeasement made Hitler feel that he could violate the Versailles

Rahimi 3 treaty because he knew that Europe wanted to maintain peace, therefore, they would not take action against him. Neville Chamberlain supported appeasement and believed it was the answer for when Hitler demanded for Sudetenland, a section of Czechoslovakia. Hitler promised that he would recognize Czechoslovakias new boundary lines, but six months later he took over the entire country. The French and British also supported appeasement even when Hitler wanted to take the Rhineland. Later, Hitler admitted that if the French and British had tried to stop him he would have backed down. By using appeasement Europe was giving Hitler exactly what he wanted, which was why collective security would have been a better response to the aggression. If Europe had used collective security, they could have gained back the power they had lost. Hitler was easily taking over countries and land, because none of the countries of the League of Nations did not want to disrupt peace in Europe. In the end, this backfired on Europe because it caused the Second World War.

World War II happened for many reasons and there was no way of stopping it from occurring. The disagreements and aggression between France, Italy and Japan signalled the coming of another world war. Choosing appeasement over collective security weakened the League of Nations power and gave Hitler what he should have never been granted. We were plunged into World War II because of the League of Nations betrayal and for not handling conflicts in the correct manner.