Origins Of The Second World War In Europe

To uncover the origins of the Second World War is a difficult task and to summarize it, even more so, but this is exactly what historian P.M.H. Bell does in his astounding book The Origins of the Second World War in Europe. Although Bell does a great job of providing accounts on both sides of the debate on the origins of the Second World War, he does have his own mindset about it. In his eyes, Bell sees the Second World War as being a thirty year war, driven by the ideology and economics of Germany, which was not preplanned by blueprint. He outlines this very clearly in the conclusion of his book, basing it on knowledge that he interlaid throughout.

Bell begins this read by illustrating the theory of the thirty years war. This, according to Bell, is the belief that the Second World War was a continuation of the First. Proof for which, is that after the First World War Europe was caught in a quicksand of tensions between states1. This was a result of the great cataclysm that the First World War created in Europe, both physical and psychological. Physically, the war completely changed the map of Eastern Europe. The outcome of which meant that over 19 million people were forced to live as national minorities in nine nation-states2. This made Europe unstable, as different nationalist movements rose up across the East. Psychologically, a growing movement of pacifists began to show its face in both Britain and especially France. As the numbers of dead and wounded kept growing people began asking "wozu?" -"what's it all for?"3 The result of these feelings led to the hope that another horrible war will not engulf Europe Ð'- "never again"4. In response, France, whom was struck the worst in terms of population rates, revealed the harsh Versailles Treaty of 19195.

This treaty, which essentially drained Germany of its power to recover to its prewar state, created feelings of hate and mistrust among its populace. It forced the Germans to lose territory, limit its army and worst of all, accept the responsibility of starting the war6. This final part, known unofficially as the war-guilt clause, forced Germany to pay off repatriations that had no final amount stated7. This crippled the German economy, which now had to focus on paying off the allies rather than rebuilding itself and meant that prewar Europe could never be achieved. The reasoning behind this being that Germany was a crucial part of the European economy of 1914, and at its current state it couldn't reach normality8. According to Bell, the main problem with the Versailles Treaty was that: "Germany was beaten but not destroyed"9. This created an angry, but pacified, Germany; all that she needed was a dynamic leader.

A couple of years after the Treaty was imposed on Germany the allies began to see their mistake- it was much too harsh. They showed this when they offered Germany flexible ways of paying off her reparations10, allowing her to gain some territories back11, and letting her build up the German army unabated12. It was too late for appeasement however, as Germany's dynamic leader had already arrived Ð'- Adolf Hitler. Hitler, whom preached ideologies of "lebensraum", or living space, and of racial superiority, quickly rose up in popularity as his party was the single biggest in the Reichstag of 193213. Europe was in turmoil, and an angry Germany got it self an angrier leader, another European war was a certainty14. The only question Ð'- When?

While a specific date for war wasn't given that early in Hitler's career, all of his actions made it come closer. When Hitler became FÐ"јhrer in 1934 he, through the Enabling Act of 1933, took complete control over Germany. This resulted in his extreme ideology being applied to the German foreign policy. This ideology called for domination of all the weaker races in the world, for their only true masters were the Germans, or how Hitler liked to call them, the Aryans15. However, this "master race" was running out of sufficient area in which to live, according to Hitler, so he began his crusade for the "lebensraum". The main target for this space was Eastern Europe Ð'- The bread basket. While Hitler wasn't interested in conquering the mighty USSR from the start, he did for see an eventual war with her for her abundant resources16. Thus, the clash that the two countries had in 1941 was long coming, but not a surprise.

Living space then, was a necessary objective in Hitler's eyes, but in order to achieve this space he needed to develop Germany's army first. So he did. Between 1933 and 1939 the Treaty of Versailles was secretly avoided to massively increase the size of the German army, from 100,000 to 300,00017. The Luftwaffe, German air force, also rapidly increased and by 1940 it was the strongest among all the European powers. The German war machine was impressive, in just six years it went from being the weakest army to one of the strongest18. However, this created a vicious circle in terms of foreign policy for Germany: Hitler wanted living space, so he built up the army. However, in order to pay for this rapid rearmament, he had to conquer territories. Thus, Hitler made war profitable and a key part of the foreign policy of Germany19.

To sum up, Hitler's Germany lived on a balanced diet of economics and ideology. On the one hand, Hitler's ideology called for living space for his great Aryan race. However, on the other hand, economics were the backbone of building an army large enough to acquire it. This resulted in Hitler conquering many new lands for his cause. First