We explain what were the main events that preceded World War II.
What were the background of World War II?
Economic depression Started in 1929 destroyed the fragile international concord built in the first years of the interwar period and facilitated the rise of Nazism in Germany and militarism in Japan. From 1931 the world attended a series of international crises that marked the way to a general conflict. Germany, Japan and Italy were configuring a military block, the axis, determined to end the order established after the First World War.
Democratic powers deployed a hesitant policy against Adolf Hitlerwho had become German chancellor in 1933. British prime minister, Arthur Neville Chamberlain, personified The “Appegging Policy”: He tried to negotiate with Hitler and grant him some of his demands in the hope that the Nazi leader finally “would be appeased” and plaquer his territorial ambitions. However, this policy only served to intensify the expansionist determination of the Government of Germany.
Meanwhile, In the Soviet Union, Iosif Stalin He sought, after many doubts, the alliance with the democratic powers to put a brake on Hitler. However, mutual distrust failed this attempt and, before international astonishment, the Soviet leader He ended up agreeing with Hitler and promoting German aggression to Poland that finally triggered World War II (1939-1945).
Key points
The main events that preceded World War II were:
- The winning and defeated countries of World War I signed treaties and agreements in an attempt to achieve global peace and economic reconstruction, But in practice they generated new situations of tension.
- The Treaty of Versailles (1919) imposed severe conditions and war repairs to Germany for the atrocities caused during World War I. However, he failed to maintain peace and was, instead, one of the triggers of World War II.
- Nationalist and militaristic movements, such as fascism and Nazism, acquired power, imposed dictatorial governments and promoted expansionist policies.
- The postwar economic weakness and great depression (1929) affected the main powers and facilitated the expansion of movements Socialists, which contributed to fascist parties pointed to socialism as a threat to traditional values.
- See also: Delivery period
The background of World War II in Asia
The first steps on the road to a new World War occur in Asia. In 1931, Inukai Tsuyoshi's ultra -nationalist government invaded the Chinese region of Manchuria After the Mukden incident (the attack on the stretch of a Japanese railway that was allegedly made by Japanese officers to attribute it to Chinese dissidents and justify the invasion).
After international complaints, in 1933 the Empire of Japan left the Society of Nations and in 1937 China attacked. Thus the Chinese-Japanese war began. If the period from a vision that is not Eurocentric is analyzed, it can be affirmed that World War II began at that time, although the consensus is to place the beginning of the war in the German invasion of Poland in 1939.
In any case, The war between the Republic of China (led by Chiang Kai-Shek) and the Empire of Japan (led by Emperor Hirohito and his ministers) He subsequently confused with World War II. Both wars ended in September 1945.
The background of World War II in Europe
The decisive crises that led to World War II took place in Europe. The key moment was 1933, when Hitler was appointed German chancellor. From the beginning Hitler expressed his desire to end the order created by the Treaty of Versailles.
In a little more than three years Hitler's Germany left the Society of Nations (1933), established the mandatory military service (1935), Renania remilitated, border area with France and Belgium (1936), and intervened with Benito Mussolini (leader of fascist Italy) in the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) supporting the rebellious side directed by the General Bando. Francisco Franco.
Franco-British condemnation of the Italian invasion of Ethiopia (1935) and the common struggle of Germany and Italy in the Spanish Civil War approached Hitler and Mussolini, which already had ideological affinities. This resulted in the Roma-Berlin axis in 1936. Both powers proclaimed their political alliance based on a common vision of international policy. That same year, Germany signed with Japan the antikomintern pactdirected against the Soviet Union and international communism. Italy and Franco's Spain joined shortly after.
German expansionism and the beginning of World War II
The German aggressions of the late thirties did not find a firm response of democratic powers:
- In March 1938, Germany invaded Austria. Hitler fulfilled an old dream of German nationalism: the Anschluss, the annexation of Austria to Germany. This annexation, which had been prohibited by the Treaty of Versailles (1919), received a moderate response from democratic powers, in line with the appeasement policy promoted by the British Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain.
- In September 1938, at the Munich Conference, The governments of France and the United Kingdom accessed Hitler's territorial claims and gave their agreement to the German annexation of the Czechoslovak region of the Sudetes.
When, In March 1939, Hitler breached what was agreed in Munich (which meant only southweets) and He invaded Czechoslovakiathe failure of conciliation policy with Nazi Germany became evident. France and the United Kingdom proclaimed that they would not allow any new German annexation. Hitler responded with the claim of the port of Danzig (Gdansk) and the preparation of an aggression to Poland. Europe was in the prelude to war.
Europe had just attended the triumph of the Francoist side in Spain, in April 1939, when the world was shocked by unexpected news: in August 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union signed the Pact of German-Soviet aggression (also called Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact). Stalin and Hitler secretly agreed to the cast of Poland and the Soviet annexation of the Baltic Republics.
This was the last sign that Hitler expected. On September 1, 1939, The German armed forces (Wehrmacht) invaded Polandwhich precipitated the declaration of war to Germany by the United Kingdom and France. World War II had begun.
Continue with:
- World War I peace treaties
- Chronology of the interwar period
- Delivery period (second stage)
References
- Britannica, Encyclopaedia (2022). German-Soviet Nonaggresion Pact. Britannica Encyclopedia. https://www.britannica.com/
- Britannica, Encyclopaedia (2022). Second Sin-Japanese War. Britannica Encyclopedia. https://www.britannica.com/
- Hughes, Ta & Royde-Smith, JG (2022). World War II. Britannica Encyclopedia. https://www.britannica.com/
- Sevillano Calero, F. (2020). The Europe of award. The disrupted order. Synthesis.
- Stone, N. (2013). Brief history of World War II. Ariel.
