World War IICauses and OutbreakThis second global conflict resulted from the rise of totalitarian, militaristic regimes in Germany, Italy, and Japan, a phenomenon stemming in part from the Great Depression that swept over the world in the early 19!s and from the conditions created by the peace settlements "1919#$!% following World War I&'fter World War I, defeated Germany, disappointed Italy, and ambitious Japan were an(ious to regain or increase their power) all three eventually adopted forms of dictatorship "see *ational +ocialism and fascism% that made the state supreme and called for e(pansion at the e(pense of neighboring countries& These three countries also set themselves up as champions against ,ommunism, thus gaining at least partial tolerance of their early actions from the more conservative groups in the Western democracies& 'lso important was a desire for peace on the part of the democracies, which resulted in their military unpreparedness& -inally, the .eague of *ations, wea/ened from the start by the defection of the 0nited +tates, was unable to promote disarmament "see Disarmament ,onference%) moreover, the long economic depression sharpened national rivalries, increased fear and distrust, and made the masses susceptible to the promises of demagogues&The failure of the .eague to stop the +econd +ino1Japanese War in 191 was followed by a rising crescendo of treaty violations and acts of aggression& 'dolf 2itler, when he rose to power "19% in Germany, recreated the German army and prepared it for a war of con3uest) in 194 he remilitari5ed the 6hineland& 7enito 8ussolini con3uered "199#4% :thiopia for Italy) and from 194 to 199 the +panish civil war raged, with Germany and Italy helping the fascist forces of -rancisco -ranco to victory& In 8ar&, 19;, Germany anne(ed 'ustria, and in +ept&, 19;, the 7ritish and -rench policy of appeasement toward the '(is reached its height with the sacrifice of much of ,5echoslova/ia to Germany in the 8unich , came close to collapse& Dnly the infusion of 'merican men and materiel on the side of the allies staved off military defeat and restored, at least to some e(tent, morale& 'nti1war opposition grew rapidly in Germany, especially in the aftermath of the 7olshevi/ victory in 6ussia& In Dctober 191;, a naval mutiny in Germanytriggered broader revolutionary protests that led to the abdication of Jaiser Wilhelm II& 0nable to continue the war, Germany sued for peace&Despite the defeat of Germany, the war did not produce the results that 7ritain and -rance had originally envisioned& In the east, the war had led to socialist revolution in 6ussia and the radicali5ation of the wor/ing class throughout :urope& In the west, the war created the conditions for the emergence of the 0nited +tatesAwhich had suffered relatively few lossesAas the dominant capitalist power&8oreover, the Hersailles settlement of 1919 set the stage for the eruption of new conflicts& The vindictive terms insisted upon by -rench imperialism did little to ensure stable relationson the :uropean continent& The brea/up of the 'ustrian12ungarian :mpire resulted in the creation of a new set of unstable national states, torn by deep1rooted and e(plosive sectional rivalries& 'bove all, the Hersailles settlement failed tocreate a foundation for the restoration of the economic e3uilibrium of :urope& 6ather, the world capitalist economy, as it emerged from the war, was riven by imbalances that led to the unprecedented collapse that began on Wall +treet in Dctober 19$9&'nother maBor factor in the re1emergence of international tensions that was to lead to a renewal of global war in 199 was the new role of the 0nited +tates in world affairs& Though Wilson was hailedAespecially in the aftermath of the 0+ entry into the war and the victory of socialist revolution in 6ussiaAas the savior of capitalist :urope, it was soon to become clear to the :uropean bourgeoisie that the interests of the 0nited +tates were not entirely in alignment with its own& The 'merican bourgeoisie was not willing to accept :uropean dominance in world affairs& It viewed the privileges enBoyed by 7ritain within the framewor/ of its :mpire as a barrier to the e(pansion of its own commercial interests&While the steady e(pansion of 'merican power gave 7ritish diplomats sleepless nights, it thoroughly unnerved the most ruthless representatives of German imperialism& In "ages of Destruction, a new study of the origins of World War, the respected scholar 'dam Too5e writesM'merica should provide the pivot for our understanding of the Third 6eich& In see/ing to e(plain the urgency of 2itler@s aggression, historians have underestimated his acute awareness of the threat posed to Germany, along with the rest of the :uropean powers, by the emergence of the 0nited +tates as the dominant global superpower& Dn the basis of contemporary economic trends, 2itler predicted already in the19$!s that the :uropean powers had only a few more years to organi5e themselves against this inevitability& LThe aggression of 2itler@s regime can thus be rationali5ed as an intelligible response to the tensions stirred up by the uneven development of global capitalism, tensions that are of course still with us today& Npp& ((iv1((v&OTrotskys analysis in 1!"The years that followed the conclusion of World War I witnessed the hey1day of pacifism& Wilson had proclaimed upon declaring war on Germany in 191> that the 0nited +tates was waging war Fto end all wars&G The .eague of *ationsAwhich the 0+ refused to BoinAwas set up by the :uropean victors& In 19$>, -rance and the 0nited +tates negotiated the Jellogg17riand , Bust as Hladimir Ilyich .enin was ma/ing his way bac/ to revolutionary 6ussia& Two great historical lines of development intersected at this critical Buncture& Wilson@s speech mar/ed the decisive emergence of the 0nited +tates as the dominant imperialist force on the planet& .enin@s arrival in 6ussia mar/ed the beginning of a massive wave of socialistand mass anti1imperialist struggles that were to sweep acrossthe globe&7y the time the 0nited +tates achieved its victory over Germany and Japan in 19?9, hundreds of millions of people were already in revolt against imperialist oppression& The tas/that confronted the 0nited +tates was to stem the tide of global revolutionary struggle& It is not possible within the framewor/ of this survey to provide even an outline of post1war developments& This would re3uire at least some e(planation of the political dynamics of the so1called F,old War,G which defined international politics between 19?9 and 1991&2owever, in bringing this lecture to a conclusion, it is necessary to stress that the 0nited +tates viewed the dissolution of the +oviet 0nion in 1991 as an opportunity to finally establish the unchallenged hegemony of 'merican imperialism&In 199$, the 0+ military adopted a strategic doctrine that declared that it would not permit any country to emerge as a serious challenger to the dominant global position of the 0nited +tates& In $!!$, this e(pansive military doctrine was supplemented with the promulgation of the doctrine of Fpreventive war,G which declared that the 0nited +tates reserved the right to attac/ any country that it believed to pose a potential threat to its security& This new doctrine was directed specifically against ,hina, which was warned againstbuilding up its own military forces&It should be pointed out that the new 0+ military doctrine is illegal from the standpoint of international law& The legal precedents established at the *uremberg War ,rimes Trials held that war is not a legitimate instrument of state policy, andthat preventive war is illegal& ' military attac/ by one state upon another is legal only in the presence of a clear and immediate threat& In other words, military action is Bustified only as an inescapably urgent measure of national self1defense& The attac/ on Ira3, which followed by only a few months the promulgation of the $!!$ doctrine of preventive war, was a war crime& 2ad the 0nited +tates been held accountable under the precedents established at *uremberg in 19?4, 7ush, ,heney, 6umsfeld,