1. The Causes of World War Two

2. To find out why World War Two started we must go back to the end of World War One
The Treaty of Versailles was the peace settlement signed after World War One had ended in 1918
The Treaty
1.     Germany had to accept the Blame for starting the war
2.     Germany had to pay £6,600 million (called Reparations) for the damage done during the war.

3. 3.     Germany could have a navy of only six battleships, and an Army of just 100,000 men.
4.     Germany lost Territory (land) in Europe. Germany’s colonies were given to Britain and France.
It left a mood of anger throughout Germany as it was felt that as a nation Germany had been unfairly treated. 

4. Hitler's aims and actions
It is easy to blame Hitler for starting World War Two.  
Hitler's aims were aggressive, and he openly stated them in his book "Mein Kampf" in 1924:
a. Destroy the Treaty of Versailles. b. Create a Greater Germany (a country of all the German-speaking people). c. Lebensraum (living space) to conquer land for Germany in Eastern Europe.
d. Make a pure Aryan race – without Jews or Communists.

6. Hitler’s Aims
Hitler’s ideas can be found in his book ‘Mein Kampf’ (My struggle)
Mein Kampf
Hitler’s Aims
The Treaty
Can you guess what Hitler’s Aims were from the pictures above?

7. Hitler in Power
Once he came to power in 1933, Hitler set about doing exactly what he had said he would do. For each of his actions between 1935 and 1939, can you see which aim(s) he was fulfilling by undertaking:
Rearmament Remilitarisation of the Rhineland Anschluss with Austria The annexation of the Sudetenland The invasion of Czechoslovakia The invasion of Poland  

8. Chamberlain and appeasement
During the 1930s, Britain and France followed a policy of appeasement - they gave Hitler what he wanted in order to keep the peace. An important example of this is in 1938 when Britain and France allowed Hitler to take the Sudentenland in Czechoslovakia.

9. Reasons for appeasement
There were many reasons why Chamberlain appeased Hitler, but here are the main ones:  
The British people wanted peace - they would not have supported a war in 1938.
Many of Hitler's complaints appeared reasonable at the time - especially about the Treaty of Versailles.
Britain's armed forces were not ready for a war, and they could not have helped Czechoslovakia anyway.

10. Results of appeasement
Here are the main ones:  
Britain gained a year to build up its armed forces, but so did Hitler.
Hitler decided that Britain and France were afraid of him, and that they would not stop him whatever he did.
It improved the war morale of the British people, who knew they had done everything possible to avoid war.

12. The Nazi-Soviet Pact
On 23 August 1939, Hitler made the Nazi-Soviet Pact with Stalin - a promise not to go to war with each other and (secretly) a promise to invade Poland and split it between them

13. Who was to blame for World War Two (1939 –45)?
The Treaty of Versailles Created an anger in Germany that made many Germans support Hitler when he promised to destroy the Treaty.
League of Nations It was supposed to keep the peace, but it failed.  
Hitler's policies It is easy to argue that Hitler's actions pushed Europe into war.  
Nazi-Soviet Pact Some historians argue that Hitler would not have gone to war in 1939 if he had been faced with fighting Britain and France in the west and Russia and Poland in the east. Stalin gave Hitler the green light for war.