Why World War

World war II, and why? After World War I, the defeated Germany, Disappointed Italy, and Ambitious Japan were anxious to regain or increase their power. All three of these countries eventually adopted forms of dictatorship; National Socialism and Fascism. This made their country supreme and called for expansion and invasion of neighbouring countries. These countries also set themselves up as enemies against communism, which gained them at least partial tolerance from the Western Democracies. The Western Democracies were concerned with peace, which resulted in military un-preparedness. In the 1920's Western Democracies made more than reasonable efforts to maintain peace, they signed the Treaty of Versailles, which promised aid to any country attacked by whichever power broke the agreement. In 1931 when Japan Invaded Manchuria, the invasion was a success but the most important factor that came out of the entire incident was the weak response from the league of nations towards Japan's aggression this showed to Hitler and Mussolini that the Leagues power and word was not worth the paper it was written on. And then there was the Spanish Civil war that once again showed a lack of support from the League of Nations. Hitler was confident that the League of Nations was afraid to go to war especially so recently after the depression which left many countries in distrust, and fear. Britain and France were too quiet towards many situations. The Japanese, German, and Italian aggression was building and there was no one would take a stand to the three powers. Britain and France let these countries have far too much slack and it hit them later in the World War II, the sequel to the War that was supposed to "End all Wars" For most of Japan's History they have had a deep respect for China. However these ideas were ended when the Sino-Japanese war broke out in 1894. The modernized Japanese Navy and Army conquered the Chinese. And from the treaty that followed Japan tasted its first taste of empire and overseas expansion. Immediately following this treaty many of the world's powers quickly signed treaties with Japan and insured Japan's position as an equal. The war with China was only the beginning of Japan's interest in other lands. Russia took over Manchuria in 1900 and soon began to threaten Korea. Japan, which has historically strong ties and interests in Korea, soon came into a conflict with Russia over that domination in that country. After attempts at negotiation failed, Japan became the first Asian nation to successfully challenge a European power. From the war, Japan won most of Manchuria along with dominance in Korea. In 1926 Hirohito took the throne in Japan and took his place as emperor of Japan. When this happened the emperor and his council decided that Japan needed more. Japan was not enough and needed more for its market. During this time Japan and China had been building tension over the occupation of Manchuria. As a result of this tension Chinese soldiers attempted to bomb a Manchurian Railway. Japan then retaliated with the complete occupation of Manchuria. As a result of this it captured the leagues attention and in October of 1932 the league demanded that it returned Manchuria to China. Japan took offence to this and pulled themselves from the League of Nations. Japan remained quiet until 1937 when the attacks on China once again resumed. This attack followed a Pact, which allied themselves with Germany and Italy. The League of Nations made pitiful attempts to stop this from happening and the first stage in World War II had just occurred. The Italian Aggression was another cause for WWII. There were two big cases that helped bring about this war. The Spanish civil war, and the takeover of Ethiopia. In the beginning of the 1920's, Ethiopia was admitted into the League of Nations. In 1925 the Italians were taking control of strategic positions on the very edges of Ethiopia and posting military patrols around these areas. In June of 1927 talks began for the Italy-Ethiopian Treaty of 1928. During these negotiations Mussolini refused to back down off the borders of Ethiopia because he hoped to acquire them. On December 5th of 1934 Mussolini decided to take Ethiopia by force. And after two days of fighting the Ethiopians were defeated. Since Ethiopia was a member of the League of Nations they immediately got engaged in talks with the league to see what they could do about the actions Italy had taken. The outcome of this entire situation was the destruction of a nation because the league did not want to get involved in the situation because they believed that if they did than it would jeopardize their credibility. After Mussolini destroyed Ethiopia and made it an Italian colony he made a very poor decision. In 1940 he joined forced with the Nazi party in WWII. France and Britain immediately broke off their alliance with Italy. This is the second situation in which the League of Nations has failed to display what it was meant to do, keep peace. And yet another step in the next war has been taken, as Hitler watches in and sees the reaction from France and Britain he was convinced that his next steps would not have any resistance at all. During the early thirties Spain had replaced its dictatorship with democracy. Although during the depression the nation's classes started to Expierience conflict. Everything remained rather calm until July of 1936 when Francisco Franco declared war against the republic. And in no time at all he had massive support all across Spain. For three years the Spanish Republic and the Nationalist rebels fought, losing half a million lives. Britain and France decided not to aid the republic's effort due to their own poor economies and for fear escalating it into a general war. Only the Soviet Union sent large amounts of aid to Spain. Hitler and Mussolini, however, saw an ally in Francisco Franco and aided him with troops and weapons. Together they sent, as many as 60,000 troops and used the opportunity to test their new modern weapons would prove to be vital during the early part of the new war. If Britain