Causes of World War II

Wii

Since the end of World War II historians have continued to debate the primary cause of the war's beginning. Because of the many different nations that took part in the war and the many areas of interest within that war dinner tables and conference rooms have bandied the possibilities back and forth for years. While there are actually several causes that created the belief for many that war was indeed necessary the primary cause of the war was the desire by some nations to forcibly rule other nations at that time.

Before one can begin to determine the cause of a specific war it is important to have an understanding of what can create a breeding ground for wars in general.

What do you think was the most crucial and important cause of World War II?

Causes of war can be seen as symptoms to a vague illness. While the symptoms are there, the exact illness is sometimes difficult to discover. As with war the symptoms are always present before a war breaks out but it is seldom one reason only that is the root cause of war (a Summary of the Causes of World War II (http://www.angelfire.com/wy/wwi/summary.html).

Throughout history, wars have been sparked by various issues including the desire to rule another nation by force, a perceived threat by another nation, a mob mentality or some other outside cause such as oil interest or religious persecution (a Summary of the Causes of World War II (http://www.angelfire.com/wy/wwi/summary.html).

The decision to go to war is usually met by support and detractors at the same time. Those who support war believe in the cause and those who are against it do not. There are some wars in which the true cause is never really pinpointed. Such is the case with the Vietnam Conflict and the current war in Iraq, but with other wars the cause is crystal clear to most. In the case of World War II there are several reasons that the war involved as many nations as it did but the true cause of the war was not anti-communism as many believe, but a combination of problems including anti-communism, mob mentality and the desire by some to forcibly rule others.

The mindset against communism is an obvious problem with humanity, however, a less obvious cause of the war was the mob mentality that prevailed.

It was a time of unrest not only for the people of Germany but also for people worldwide as economic problems slowed production and prosperity to a crawl.

The Propaganda used by the Nazi party (Mob mentality); again, Hitler and Goebbels made explicit use of the mob mentality to rally the masses behind the Nazi flag. Hitler stated many times that the only way to use propaganda effectively was to aim it at the stupidity of the masses rather than the intellectuals (a Summary of the Causes of World War II (http://www.angelfire.com/wy/wwi/summary.html)."

While his methods worked, they may not have had the world not been in the predicament that it was at that time.

Hitler used short slogans and he played them over and over again until they were repeating themselves in the minds of all who heard them. Much like the sublime messages that are used for hypnotism those slogans became a mindset for millions of people that heard them and those mindsets created a mob mentality that forcing Jews and others into concentration camps would better the predicament for everyone else (a Summary of the Causes of World War II (http://www.angelfire.com/wy/wwi/summary.html).

While anti-communism was an important element of the war it was not the founding cause as it was not fully underway until other events had occurred (Causes of World War II (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Causes_of_World_War_II).If one is asked to choose a single cause for the war it would have to be the desire to have power, as was demonstrated by various invasions and attacks on countries that did not invite them.

The immediate Causes of World War II are generally held to be the German invasion of Poland, and the Japanese attacks on China, the United States, and the British and Dutch colonies. In each of these cases, the attacks were the result of a decision made by authoritarian ruling elites in Germany and Japan (Causes of World War II (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Causes_of_World_War_II)."

Interestingly, the Nazi Party came to rule through the Democratic process, but once in a position of power the party quickly moved to stomp out any hint of freedom or democracy anywhere in its path.

The Nazi's capitalized on the mob mentality when it worked to unite Germans into believing that they were a superior race, to be exalted and held above all other races and nations.

The people were ready to grasp onto anything that would give them hope that the current conditions they were living under with regard to poverty and hope would come to an end.

The idea of mob mentality has always been when a group of individuals who individually do not feel good about themselves, come together and believe that as part of the group they are raised up in esteem they are more powerful. It is what drives gang membership, packs of dogs, and other examples of mobs to continue to form and do damage. The mob mentality was no different shortly before the start of WWII.