Competition Success Review published this article page no 6 the wars beginning? some would say that world war two began with germanys invasion of poland on the 1st september 1939 and the ultimatum of britain that without a german withdrawal a state of war would exist. needless to say there was no german withdrawal and wwii began britain france australia and new zealand declaring war on the 3rd of september 1939 others would argue that world war two was simply the second round of world war one. although the major powers had yet to realise it the continuance of the war between the axis and allies would result in the end of european dominance of the world and the destruction of their colonial empires. by renewing the fight they only ensured their own demise no matter who won the outcome. some have claimed that the treaty of versailles was harsh and unreasonable and therefore was the seed which guaranteed the second world war. germany would seek to redress this wrong. in truth the treaty of versailles was no harsher than the very terms that the germans had sought to impose on the russians in 191718 with russia forced to secede large tracts of territory and pay large indemnities in the treaty of brest-litovsk. in truth the greater cause of the second world war was the belief by many germans that they had never lost the first world war. german territory had not been invaded the troops felt they had never lost. in reality the army had to return to germany to preserve the state from social meltdown as germany was in greater danger from internal enemies than the threat posed by the allies. hence the belief that germany had only lost the war due to a stab in the back at home. this breakdown however was the result of a state put under immense pressure and succumbing to economic pressure and political facture in order to win a modern war victory in the field is no longer enough victory must be obtained over the whole system of the other nation. (i.e. destroy its will to fight). germany had lost the strategic battle its system had collapsed and hence it lost the war. the british navy had succeeded in its blockade of the germany economy and had thus brought about its ruin and defeat (even if the navy hadnt proven itself in open battle). germany had lost its allies turkey and austria and had failed in production with less airplanes few tanks and had run out of manpower. although germany had not lost the battle it had lost the war. nevertheless this myth of not having been really defeated lead to resentment at being labelled the losers. soon every problem in germany was related to past wrongs. the great depression was the final straw. mass unemployment and hyperinflation left a perfect environment for an extremist political party to gain enough support to take centre stage. in this case the nazis with a combination of nationalism racism authoritarism and the promise of better times gained enough political power to begin the takeover and change a democracy into dictatorship. careful staged events such as the burning of the reichstag and downright bully boy tactics led to complete dictatorship. in order to continue to deliver on promises hitler who was the embodiment of the state had continue to expand first via appeasement and then outright war. the killer blow was the molotov-ribbentrop pact signed on the 23rd of august 1939 in which hitler was free to carve up poland with the acquience of the ussr. thanks to the bitzkrieg tactics and superior ordanance the german army quickly overcome poland. with france and britain disgracing themselves by doing nothing on the western front competition success review magazine Subscribe online.
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