Origins of World War 2

¶ … Second World War and how the Allied Powers were able to defeat the Axis Powers, ending Nazism, the Holocaust, and Japan's stranglehold on the Pacific. However, fewer people are truly knowledgeable about the beginning of the war. For the United States, World War II officially began on December 7th, 1941 with the bombing of Pearl Harbor. For the rest of the world, the war began much earlier and had already produced massive damage of property and people. The series of events that would lead to a world at war began in the early 1930s with the invasion of Manchuria by Japan and the seizing of power in the nation of Germany by Third Reich leader Adolf Hitler.

After the First World War, Germany was suffering from a massive depression. Losing the war left the people destitute; many were jobless and many were homeless. When things are their bleakest, it can be difficult to carry on. The government officials of Germany tried to regain the support of the people which was difficult. The chancellor of the German government sought to relieve some of the economic stress of the depression by lowering wages and hoping that this would, in turn, lower prices of goods and services, and also by reinforcing international relationships. This regime as not able to create change fast enough, which paved the way for the rise of the National Socialist (also called the Nazi) Party (Paxton 279). Following the rise of this party, Adolf Hitler was appointed chancellor of the German government with an amazing 88% approval by the citizens of the country. This shows exactly how desperate the people were, that they would award a high position to an individual with specious ideas and a dubious background. As early as 1933, Hitler began instilling policies which would pave the way for the Second World War. In this year, he removed Germany from the League of Nations, disassociating the country from the western world.

Unwilling to enter into another major international military conflict following the disaster of the First World War, the British government advocated a philosophy of appeasement with the increasingly-aggressive German government. There were other reasons for this policy besides a desire to stay out of war. Both France and England were suffering their own economic crises and could ill afford to take arms against Germany. Additionally, leaders of these countries felt some amount of distress because they believed the punishment imposed upon Germany during the Treaty of Versailles was overwrought. Utilizing these potential relationships with other countries, Hitler was able to shrewdly acquire weapons and build up his army at a time when Germany was still technically under restrictions for disarmament. There was also concern throughout the western world that the real threat was Russia and the Communists who were bent on radical governmental change. Hitler went on to systematically align with nations that would support him, even making a non-aggression policy with Poland, a nation he would swiftly overtake and whose population he would eradicate (Paxton 329). As early as 1933, Hitler had envisioned a Germany which he would lead and a Europe which would proverbially fall to its knees in his wake.

One of the ways they determined to rebuild the morale of their countrymen was to create a whipping boy of sorts. The German people would be better off emotionally and morally if there were a group that could be made into scapegoats. By placing all the people's blame on this group, the German government could effectively alleviate their own responsibility and uniformly cast the people's dissatisfaction off of themselves. Hitler and his fellow leaders attacked Jews, teen rebels, the homosexuals, Gypsies, vagrants, and the mentally or physically handicapped (Paxton 285). Starting in 1933, anyone who was not Aryan, which is to say not of "pure" German heritage, was dismissed from civil service positions. The ramifications for these non-Aryans included losing ownership of businesses as well as their homes and their positions of employment. It culminated with a declaration wherein anyone non-Aryan, particularly those with any Jewish heritage would be denied their citizenship, no matter how long the person in question had lived in the country.