Causes of World War II - Paper 2

 World War Two began in 1939 when Germany invaded Poland. Great Britain and France, who had alliances with Poland, declared war almost immediately after the invasion. The argument most historians make is that World War II was caused by Germany’s actions after world war one. But the actual cause of the Second World War was the failures of the League of Nations and the attempts at Collective security. Germany’s actions do tie in to the failures, but they are not the main cause.
    The League of Nations was a failure from the beginning. One of the greatest failures of the league was that the main world powers were never apart of the league at the same time. In fact, one of the greatest weaknesses of this was that the US never joined, despite the idea coming from Woodrow Wilson. The US’s non-involvement would prove to be a large factor in the cause of world war two when the Ethiopian crisis occurred.  The League of Nations did not permit Germany to enter until 1926. Seven years later Germany would leave the league so that Hitler could continue his work at Lebensraum. The USSR would join in 1934, and would remain in for the rest of the League’s life. In 1935 Italy left to invade Ethiopia. The League of Nations never could have promoted Collective Security if there was never a chance for the world’s main powers to work collectively to resolve domestic and international issues.
    There was another failure in the League of Nations that would prevent Collective Security. There was a perception by the members of the League that it was run by Great Britain and France. This perception was justified because it seemed as if France and Great Britain were the strongest members in the league, were the first to join, and never left. However, though the perception is that these two countries dominated over the others in the League, it is not completely true, and it would have made no difference even if they did. It would be a good thing and a bad thing that they ran the league. It would be good because they were the strongest world powers involved (the US was a rival for their standing in the world, but not apart of the league). It would be bad because the other countries would feel cheated. Realistically speaking, France and Great Britain were the strongest in the league, but not strong enough to put the League’s aims in action. Because of the World Economic Crisis of 1929 GB and France couldn't afford to send armies or rebuild the armies for Peacemaking in the League of Nations. They were also a lack of will to enforce the attempts made because of their current economic standing, thus the attempts at Collective Security failed.
    World War II probably could have been prevented if the League of Nations had all of the World Powers. There would have been more support to enforce collective security, and there wouldn’t be the perception that two countries were dominating over the others.
    In 1935 Mussolini left the League of Nations. There was an incident at the natural borderline set up by Italy and Ethiopia, known as the Welwel, where Italian and Ethiopian soldiers got into a turf battle. This small fight went against the 1928 pact made between Mussolini and Haile Sellassie (emperor of Ethiopia) to remain neutral. Mussolini used this incident to accuse Ethiopia of being aggressive and in turn to invade the country. Mussolini did invade in October of 1935. Upon being invaded The Emperor of Ethiopia went to the League of Nations for support. The League of Nations set up economic sanctions on Italy, but they were not effective until six months after fighting began in Ethiopia. These sanctions were a good attempt, but unfortunately for Ethiopia, not enough. The League sanctioned nearly everything except oil, one of two things that could have stopped the invasion from being as devastating as it was. The US was Italy’s main supplier of oil, and because they were not apart of the League of Nations, a sanction of oil would have been ineffective. Great Britain could have prevented the invasion as well if they had closed the Suez canal to Italian ships, but due to a lack of will to enforce collective security, the Italian invasion of Ethiopia was a success for Italy, and Germany as well, for Germany and Mussolini were strongly allied at this point of time.
    Through all these failed attempts by the League of Nations, Germany was rebuilding her forces and doing her own bit of invading herself. As was her ally, Japan. The League of Nations used appeasement to promote peace-making. It was the worst choice the League could have made. Appeasement was giving Germany (and Japan when she invaded Manchuria in 1936) the “OK” to go against treaties made. One of the greatest failures of the League of Nations that would be a main cause of World War II was the lack of will to enforce the Treaty of Versailles. Germany was unhappy with these conditions, they felt they were too harshly treated in the treaty, and therefore sought to abolish it. They retook the Rhineland and made it a military zone once again. If the League of Nations had sent any number of troops into the Rhine to stop Hitler, they would have been able to. Hitler was gambling. He only sent a small number of soldiers into the Rhine to test the League. They would have been forced to retreat if any number of French or British troops had gone in, but no troops were sent to stop Germany.
    This sort of peacemaking by allowing Germany to break treaties was not just a one time deal.  In fact, the League of Nations let Hitler get away with everything they did except for the invasion of Poland. Germany was able to rebuild her army and navy, even though the Treaty of Versailles clearly stated that Germany could have only six naval ships, no tanks, no air force, and no submarines. Germany had all four by the start of World War II.
    There is an argument made that states that Germany would have done these things anyway even if Britain and France and the League didn’t use appeasement. They would have, yes, but they would have failed. No way would they have been able to take the Rhineland if the League intervened. It was preventable. The invasion of Poland was preventable, too. All the League had to do was enforce a treaty and Germany would not have been able to rearm and rebuild and invade countries for land. They would not have been able to invade Poland, and the declarations of war from Great Britain and France would not have been issued.
    The League of Nations was weak. There were solid attempts made to promote Collective Security, and some did in fact succeed, but these successes were outnumbered by the failures. The League of Nations could have prevented World War II if they had the main world powers involved, if they had the will to enforce the attempts made, and if they did not allow Germany and Japan to invade and take over countries and break agreements from the treaty of the first world war. The League of Nations wanted to prevent another war, but they were unable to do so because of its own failures at Peacemaking after World War One.