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Versailles Treaty
The Treaty of Versailles was imposed on Germany and the losing countries by the USA, France, Britain, and other winners of the war. The treaty gave some German territories to nearby countries and also designated some parts of Germany that were to be watched. In addition, Germany was stripped of it's colonies, and it's military capabilities were severely restricted. On top of all this, they had to pay a massive sum to the winners of the war. This made Germany very angered which led to WWII. -
Communist International
Communist International, also known as Comintern, was an international organization that advocated world communism.In 1915 Lenin proposed the creation of this international meeting to promote “civil war, not civil peace” This caused high tension among many countries.The main goal of the Communist International was to defeat fascism.This hyped up tensions with the USSR and the rest of the world because while the rest of Europe was in the league of nations, they had a separate Communist meeting. -
League of Nations
The League of Nations was an worldwide organization of many countries, headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. It was created after the First World War to provide a way and place to discuss and fix international disputes. It was the first worldwide organization whose principal mission was to maintain world peace.The USA never ended up joining. This led to WWII because it didn't solve any problems, it just delayed them. -
Fascism in Italy
The Fascist movement in Italy was started by a WWI veteran called Benito Mussolini. His ideas were starting to gain traction and popularity all throughout the nation. He wanted to return Italy to the former Rome days. He started to share his beliefs with the country turning it into a totalitarian state and a fascist dictatorship. This made WWI more probable because Hitler drew inspiration off Mussolini and the growth of authoritative states was alarming. -
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Hopeful Years
All throughout Europe, many countries had recovered from the Great Depression. Many began to feel hopeful and people tried to increase their quality of life. Treaties and agreements were made between countries to increase cooperation, trading and relation. Countries were starting to leave behind the horrors of WWI, this served as the calm before the storm. -
Stalin in power in Russia
Stalin came to power after the death of Lenin. His first course of action was to eliminate any opposing parties in the government. He tried to make Russia a powerhouse by bringing the economy under government rule and by enforcing production quotas. Failure to meet these quotas led to punishment, while exceeding them led to rewards. He used force and intimidation to control the nation, also known as totalitarianism. This led to WWI because the USSR became a force to be reckoned with. -
Great Depression
In October the stock market in the US crashed, this caused a domino effect throughout the world. The value of money was at an all time low. The whole world fell into a deep economic hole, worst hit was Germany, who had just escaped poverty only to be hit again even harder. This allowed Germany to catch up to everyone else because while they struggled, Germany had been dealing with this for a while now. -
Japan invades Manchuria
When the treaty of Versailles was enacted and signed, Japan had not really been considered in the conversation, they had felt left out. So in 1931 they invaded Manchuria to spite them and show how weak and powerless the League of Nations was. In truth, the League couldn't stop them, this, caused a distrust in the League which led to a new arms race which in turn led to WWII. -
Germany starts to go it alone
9 months after Hitler had taken control of Germany, he withdrew from the league of nations and started their quest to strength alone. He left the disarmament conference, which called for demilitarization. He has been building up his strength and military for a war, and is ready to attack. This leads to WWII because when WWII starts, Germany is ready while other countries are not. -
Third Reich
In 1933, Adolf Hitler became the chancellor of Germany, after a few months, he had become dictator. And his party, the Nazis, had full control over the whole country. Little by little, they pushed the League's boundaries and rules until they were almost completely free of any regulations. Hitlers plan was to start another war and regain the power and reputation for being the strongest nation of them all. This obviously led to WWII because they are the ones who started it.
