The devastating consequences of World War II seem even more paramount in comparison with the first war. The selfish interests and desires of politicians and world leaders led to many deaths and considerable damage to countries. Hitler’s focus on political world domination pushed the German nation to fight and die for the beliefs German people never shared. Overall, many countries were forced to defend their lands, using many resources and leading people to their actual deaths.
Origins of World War II
The instability of Germany’s political and economic spheres was never an obstacle to Hitler’s ambitious plans. The leader’s desire to dominate the world and be a strong, respected, and feared politician tempted him to do awful things throughout the years of his ruling (The National WWII Museum, 2017). Rising to power leader of the Nazi party saw it fitting to sign treaties with powerful European countries (Brand et al., 2018). To be more exact, not only did he rearm the nation, but he also established strategic connections with Italy and Japan (The National WWII Museum, 2017). What is more, the self-centered nature of Hitler was evident since he proclaimed himself to be a supreme leader (Brand et al., 2018). Nevertheless, he also aimed to create a pure race, which he believed was only possible by starting a war that would kill everyone he saw unfit to be German. Furthermore, it was a suitable (for Adolf Hitler) solution to find a living space for the pure nation that he would rule.
As was already stated, Hitler’s strong connection to nazism was the reason for its rise and popularity. A previous president Paul von Hindenburg supported nazism and decided to appoint Adolf Hitler as a new leader of the movement and ideology because of its many followers (The National WWII Museum, 2017). That is why after the president’s death, Hitler managed to establish his dictatorship and promote nazism with the help of propaganda and fear.
The Failure of Appeasement
The rise of Nazi Germany called for new methods of maintaining peace in Europe. Thus, the British people introduced the concept of appeasement, which was mainly based on catering to Germany’s needs to avoid any conflicts. British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain saw such a way of pacification as the only way to restore Europe as it was before the failure of the Treaty of Versailles, which was caused by German nazism. In other words, the British government was focused on maintaining a decent relationship with Adolf Gitler and not provoking him.
Undoubtedly, many people saw such a solution unreasonable as the German leader was likely to use the inferior British position to his advantage. For instance, Winston Churchill specifically warned British leaders against appeasement, but he was ignored. As a result, Chamberlain hoped not to start a war with Hitler by separating Czechoslovakia to every party’s benefit (Brand et al., 2018). However, on September 1st, 1939, Hitler dishonored their agreement and invaded Poland, calling for action from neighboring countries (Brand et al., 2018). Still, Churchill guessed that Chamberlain’s actions would lead to war no matter how hard he tried to maintain peace.
European and Pacific Theaters
World War II had two primary fields of combat, European and Pacific. Still, the first suffered from far more damage and losses since the invasion of Poland, from the beginning of the war to its end six years later. In fact, many Western Allies conquered most of the west part of Europe, leading to devastation and instability in numerous countries (National Geographic Society, 2017). To elaborate, the Soviet Union was in the battle with Eastern Europe until German’s final surrender in 1945 (National Geographic Society, 2017). As for the Pacific theatre in World War II, it was dominated by the Allies and Japan (National Geographic Society, 2017). The Japanese army mostly fought the U.S. navy along with the other nations that also united their forces (the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Australia, and Canada).
The Role of Propaganda
The power of propaganda in manipulating people is beyond intense, so the German leader highly valued the concept. Hitler believed that when the nation succumbs to the idea, it can never escape from it. That is why Adolf Hitler used his position in the Nazi party to establish its dominance and force everyone to support and follow Nazi ideas (Prior, 2022). Naturally, the German leader was no fool, so he made people follow nazism unconsciously using art, music, sculpture, and drama that focused on Nazi ideology (Prior, 2022). By and large, the eventual nation’s support of nazism is what made horrible Hitler’s actions against Jewish people and everyone he saw unpure to be German possible.
Conclusions
To sum up, the atrocities that were committed by Adolf Hitler and his followers cannot be justified even with them being blindly manipulated into nazism. As a matter of fact, the ambitions and unclear mind of Hitler provoked World War II in the first place. The unreasonable actions of the British government and Hitler’s lust for worldwide dominance are the primary cause of this war. Moreover, the need to fight and defend countries was enormous stress for brainwashed and terrified people all across Europe and other theatres of the war.
References
Brand, L., Butcher, C., Garrett-Davis, J., Hanshew, T., Stallones Marshall, L., Roland, N., Schley, D., Teitelman, E., & Webb, A. (2018). The American Yawp. Stanford University Press.
National Geographic Society. (2017). World War II in Europe.
Prior, B. N. (2022). World War Two: Guard of Nazi and his propaganda artefacts. BBC News.
The National WWII Museum. (2017). How did Adolf Hitler happen? The National WWII Museum | New Orleans.