Sample Essay On World War 2

There are many World War 2 essay topics that can be covered in a college history class. This results in a student being assigned a topic that they must write about and that paper will constitute a percentage of the grade. Below is a common example that starts with the World War 2 essay introduction, which flows into the body that leads to a conclusion.

The Catalyst For World War 2

The world has seen many wars, but none were quite as horrifying as World War II. There are differing opinions on what caused the war because there were so many causes. Failed peace efforts after the first world war, problems with the Treaty of Versailles, Hitler, Fascism, the re-armament of Europe, and isolation by the allied powers have all been cited as causes. This paper will briefly touch on each cause to create a better understanding of what led to the most devastating war in recorded world history.

The first cause, the failure to make peace after World War I, was on the shoulders of the League of Nations. It was part of the Treaty of Versailles, which is the second cause of the war. The truth is that the League of Nations didn’t have any power aside from persuasion and the ability to impose economic sanctions on an offending country. However, it was so powerless that its sanctions were usually ignored. At the same time, the Treaty of Versailles caused Germany to experience territorial losses on the French-German border. Germany was also split in half because Poland was given sea access. There was a lot of anger, including anger among the Japanese and Italians. Japan expected control over China as a reward for participating in World War I. Italy received land, but said that what they received didn’t offset the cost of the war.

The third cause, fascism, had been an issue since before World War I, but Benito Mussolini created a Totalitarian government in Italy. He wanted women to have more children so that the Italian army would be larger in the future. Living standards were lowered, wages were lowered, and the quality of life suffered. This is the type of government that was adopted by Adolf Hitler. However, Hitler’s Nazi Party was slightly different from the Mussolini government, as the Nazis were more discriminating and world domination was a goal.

This goal of world domination by Adolf Hitler is the fourth cause of World War II. He wanted to dominate and bring countries together into an empire he controlled. He broke the terms of the Treaty of Versailles and pushed his enemies just to see how long it would take them to attack. Britain was so standoffish to the point that it is believed that they could have stopped the war before it began if they had been proactive. They simply didn’t want another war, but Hitler pushed the European Powers to action anyway.

By this point, America had turned from Europe after World War I because it needed to deal with its own problems. The American people didn’t want the U.S. meddling in European affairs, especially due to the war debts that Britain owed. Britain itself didn’t want to deal with Continental Europe’s issues either. This and all of the above causes led to the final cause of the European powers being rearmed. Hitler was pushing the European powers to increase arsenals and armies, which brought war nearer to those that didn’t want it. The nations were prepared, but tensions were raised to the point that war was imminent.

In conclusion, World War II wasn’t a continuation of World War I, but World War I was a cause. The biggest cause of World War II was all of the issues that came out of the Treaty of Versailles. If the treaty had been constructed much better, World War II may have never happened. Instead, it happened and we can only learn from it.