The World Before the War

“The seeds of World War II were planted by the victors at the end of World War I, a devastating conflict that had torn Europe apart between 1914 and 1918. The First World War had been a battle between the Central Powers, namely Germany, Britain, the United States, Russia, Italy, and Japan. In the end, the Allies were victorious, but millions of solders and civilians from both sides had been killed or injured during WWI, and even the victorious European countries were left with bombed-out cities and populations suffering from poverty

and disease.” (The Big Book of World War II by Melissa Wagner and Dan Bryant”)

In 1919, leaders from the Allied governments met at the Paris Peace Conference to draft a document known as the Treaty of Versailles. None of the defeated countries were present to give their input. The Allied nations blamed Germany for World War I and wanted them to be punished.

When the German delegation was presented with the terms of the treaty, they were surprised at how much the Allied governments wanted to punish them. Though they disagreed, they were forced to sign the treaty.

The Treaty of Versailles carved up the German and Austro-Hungarian empires, changing the borders of many European countries. Germany lost nearly 10 % of its population and territory. “Some people whose homes were in Germany before the treaty found themselves living in Austria, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Denmark, Belgium, or France after the treaty was signed.”

Before Treaty of Versailles…

After Treaty of Versailles…

“The Treaty of Versailles also limited the number of soldiers and allowed in the German army, forbade Germany from manufacturing military vehicles like tanks and submarines, and restricted the number of factories that could make weapons.”

“From Germany’s perspective, the worst part of the treaty was the “war guilt clause,” which laid all the blame for the war on Germany and made its citizens responsible for paying the Allied nations for damages they suffered as a result of the war.”

The German people felt it was unfair to blame them for the entire war and to be forced to pay to rebuild the rest of Europe when their own country had rebuilding to do.

Germany was not the only nation unhappy with the treaty. Italy felt that it had been neglected when Germany’s territories were being divided and Japan felt they were being ignored because of racial prejudices. Even the United States who had helped create the treaty had doubts.

One thing that the United States disagreed with was the creation of a group called the League of Nations. The League of Nations was to be a world wide governing body to help protect each members independence and borders. Some U.S. Senators did not want to be more involved with more European problems especially after the high price of World War I. The President of the United States, Woodrow Wilson, approved the formation of the League and even though many nations did not want to join, the basis for The United Nations (which was created after WWII) was set.

Through the 1920’s, Germany and many other European countries such as the Soviet Union, France, Austria, and Hungary suffered tremendous economical problems. Inflation was out of control. Prices kept rising but the value of their money kept falling.

“Then another economic disaster struck. In October 1929, the U.S. stock market crashed and investors lost everything. Around the world, banks failed, companies went bankrupt, and missions were put out of work. The 1930’s were the time of the Great Depression; jobs were hard to come by, and it seemed everyone was poor and desperate”

Because of the poverty caused by the Great Depression, countries stopped working together and international trade slowed down. For Germany, all the work they ad been doing to rebuild their country came to a halt as there were no buyers for the goods that they wanted to trade. Germany became desperate to find a way out of their extreme crisis so they began to look for a new leader who could get them back on their feet.

Hitler and the Third Reich

“As the head of the Nazi Party (short for National Socialist German Workers’ Party), Adolf Hitler presented himself as a leader with the ideas that could end the hardships the Germans were experiencing.”

Hitler promised to reject the oppressive Treaty of Versailles, recover economic strength, and eventually take a place at the head of the world. He and the Nazi Party that he led, believed that the Aryans or “pure” Germans were members of a master race. All other ethnicities were inferior.

Hitler claimed that Jews were behind all the negative things that had happened to Germany. He believed that Jews controlled Germany’s enemies such as the Allied forces of WWI and that if Germany could get rid of all ethnic minorities, especially those of Jewish descent, all the country’s problems would disappear.

Through a series of elections and appointments, Hitler became a dictator, a leader with absolute power, ruling over German on March 23, 1933. Hitler wasted no time in creating a special police force made up of Nazi extremists and put them to work to begin carrying out his plans. In 1934 President Hindenberg of Germany died and Hitler took the role as president as well.

Hitler outlawed all other political parties forcing all Germans to yield to the rule of the Nazi party and their ideas. The special police, known as the SS or Gestapo, rounded up anyone who was deemed as undesirable and, without fair trials, were sent to prison camps, tortured, or killed.

In direct rebellion to the Treaty of Versailles, Hitler began growing an army, creating war machines such as tanks submarines,and weapons, and created an air force and greatly expanded the German naval forces. By 1939 the German army was 4.5 million in number!

In 1936, Hitler sent his military troops, against the rules of the Treaty of Versailles, into the Rhineland. Even though the treaty stated that if Germany built up an army they would be subject to force, the rest of the world did nothing.

Meanwhile…

Those labeled as Jews were stripped of their German citizenship, and marriage between those labeled Jews and those labeled Germans were forbidden. Jews were no longer allowed to work for the government or in universities and Jewish businesses were boycotted.

Unfortunately, most Germans turned a blind eye to the discriminations that were happening because they felt their luck had finally changed. Partly because of Hitler’s focus on rebuilding his military power, people were once again working and the economy started to improve. Germans were working in factories building war materials and enjoying financial stability as the Jews were being persecuted.

In March 1938, Hitler made a dramatic move. He sent German troops into Austria to take over the country. Hitler’s Third Reich (Third Empire) was in direct violation of the Treaty of Versailles beginning to exercise military power.

The Nazi secret police began to round up Jews in both Germany and newly invaded Austria, and forced them to live in small, cramped, areas of the cities called Ghettos.

After Hitler’s success in Austria, The Third Reich began to size up Czechoslovakia for invasion. The Czechs did not intend to let Hitler have his way without a fight and called upon other European nations for help. Finally a peace agreement was called the Munich Agreement which gave in to the Nazi’s and their dictator. The Czechs unwillingly gave up portions of their land to avoid war. In 5 months, Hitler broke the agreement and invaded the remainder of Czechoslovakia.

Blitzkrieg!

On August 23, 1939, the Germans and the Soviets signed the Nazi-Soviet Pact. This was a formal agreement that they would not attack each other. Because the Fascist Germans believed differently than the Communist Soviets, and the problems of WWI the two nations were natural enemies. So why an agreement? Secretly the two nations planned to divide Europe with Poland split between the two countries!

On September 1, 1939, Germany invaded her “share” of Poland at 4:45 a.m. Blitzkrieg meaning “lightning war” was unlike any warfare seen before. Instead of stationary, trench warfare, blitzkrieg was fast, highly mobile, and devastating. The years of building the German war machine was now alive and attacking Poland!

On September 3, 1939, Great Britain and France declared war on Germany but by September 17, 1939, the Polish government left the country in exile. The Third Reich was now free to exercise the same oppressions to Jews living in Poland as they had done in Germany and Austria. Everywhere the Nazi’s spread, their ideals and atrocities followed. The Second World War had begun.