There are different points of view on the reasons to begin the Second World War. On this work there will be considered two points, one of them was described by John A. Vasques. The other book to consider was Why Nations Fight by Richard Ned Lebow. According to Vasques, World Wars occur rarely, and their reasons are curious. There are classical reasons for war, for example, territorial conflicts. On the other hand, Lebow insisted in the idea of national significance. This may be delivered through the mass aggression or war
But in fact, there were a lot of participants involved whose role was unclear. According to Vasques, the main reason was in the economic and political division of the world. The colonies were divided between France, England and Spain and Germany have recovered from the First world war needed resources and markets. The causes of the second world war do not lie on the surface. The process began immediately after the First World War and lasted for almost twenty years. Redrawing of state borders, the division of colonies and spheres of influence, enshrined in the Versailles-Washington system of treaties, harbored the danger of a new conflagration. It was a "contract of predators and robbers". It created incentives for revenge for the reactionary circles of the defeated Germany. In addition, the financial and industrial magnates of Italy and Japan, and other Western powers, as part of the winners, was not satisfied with the division of trophies, the lion's share of which was seized to the United States, Britain and France. They have developed a comprehensive strategy for joint struggle against the Soviet Union in the hope of at least temporarily smooth out the intra-imperialist contradictions (Vasques).
Based on the analysis of the whole complex of the facts of the foreign policy activities of Western governments of the time this leads to one conclusion: in the preparation of war against was the entire international imperialism, which is to accelerate the process of militarization and the arms race, strengthening its power and colonial items used fascism. It has penetrated and sacrificed the prevailing political structure in Europe like a cancer.
The classical reason for territory sharing is logical. After World War I, Germany was without colonies and claimed for the territories. It also found some supporting countries fought to receive their territories back. But it is not true about several countries who didn’t have any claims, like France or Britain. Vasques says that territories are not the main ones. It is better to see deeper. The countries also began to make military build-us and hard-lines that are also the most often reason to start the war. The feeling of danger made them to act so. The next step was seeking for the Alliances. It started from the need of France to get allies. Alliances activated counter-alliances and this provoked the war. The official reason to make them was to avoid the war. In fact, there were the opposite reasons, to be ready for the war. The next reason was territorial contiguity. The Germans wanted to receive back everything they used to have and even more.
All in all, according to Vasques, there were several reasons to begin the world war. First, they were territory issues after the Versailles division. Moreover, the danger and the militarization to be ready made each party look for the alliances. Alliances made counter-alliances. After all, there were other reasons, like building of hard-lines. These and many other reasons worked together to make the World War begin. According to Vasques, the readiness to the war anytime made it happen and touch the other countries’ issues (Vasques).
On the other hand, there is another point of view about the reasons of World War II beginning.
On the other hand, according to Lebow, the war is not only an opportunity to become materially wealthier. It is also the opportunity to show the nation’s spirit. Germany needed it after fiasco in the previous war. World war II was generated by a whole set of different reasons. One of them is territorial disputes that arose after the First world war, and sometimes much earlier. Mussolini and Hitler, the poster 1936 the division of the world in favor of the victorious countries in the war of 1914-1918, primarily England and France, the loss of Germany and its allies a considerable part of their former territories, the collapse of the two largest European multinational empires: the Austro-Hungarian and Russian, the ruins of which arose the nine new independent States (Austria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Serbo-Croat-Slovene Kingdom (1929 – Yugoslavia), Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Finland), with a new, often disputed borders, have become a source of constant international tension and military conflicts (Lebow).
There were large territorial changes in Eastern and South-Eastern Europe. The ally of Germany in the First world war, Bulgaria was forced to give southern Dobrogea Romania, Western Thrace – Greece, and part of the Western lands that bordered on Macedonia, Serbo-Croat-Slovenian Kingdom (future Yugoslavia). Romania fought on the side of England and France except the southern Dobruja was awarded Transylvania, inhabited by a considerable part of Hungarians, and captured from Russia to Bessarabia. Revived in 1918 Poland actually joined the Polish lands of Western Ukraine, Western Belarus, Vilnius region of Lithuania and a part of Silesia, lay claim to Cieszyn region, defected to Czechoslovakia from Germany.Countries that have lost part of the territory, wanted her back, and other countries that have territorial increment, sought to preserve or to increase. Romania was at war with Hungary over Transylvania, and Bulgaria over the Dobrudja; Bulgaria – Greece for Thrace and Yugoslavia over Macedonia; Germany with Poland and Czechoslovakia from Silesia and the Sudetenland. The bitterness of defeat, insulted the national feelings of resentment against real or imagined oppression from neighboring countries, the desire to help compatriots who suddenly found themselves outside the new state borders, fueled by the ruling circles, was melted into hatred of the "enemy", to the dream of revenge and "revenge" psychological preparedness for war (Lindemann).
Constant disagreements arose due to colonial possessions. In the First World War they broke another multinational Empire, the Ottoman (Turkish). The winners were selected from Germany and the former Ottoman Empire, their colonies. England went to German East Africa (Tanganyika), Belgium – bordering on Tanganyika, a German colony of Ruanda-Urundi (now the States of Burundi and Rwanda), the English dominion in the South African Union German South-West Africa (Namibia). German colonies in tropical Africa, Togo and the Cameroon was divided between Britain and France. German island possessions in the Pacific (the Marshall, Caroline, Mariana Islands, etc.) went to Japan, Australia and New Zealand. Former possessions of the Ottoman Empire in the middle East were Britain and France; France – Syria and Lebanon, Britain, Iraq, Palestine and TRANS Jordan. Officially they were "mandated territories", which Britain and France ruled under the mandates of the League of Nations. The re-division of colonies was accompanied by a deepening of contradictions not only between winners and losers, but also between the European colonizers and the local population hated the colonists, and sought to get rid of them. In many colonies growing national liberation movement seeking independence.
A very important cause of the Second world war was the rivalry of the great powers with each other, their desire for expansion, for European and world hegemony. Military defeat at the time it struck out Germany from among the main rivals of Britain, France and the United States. Its economy was severely weakened. Germany ordered until 1988 to pay huge reparations, its armed forces are sharply limited. The Treaty of Versailles of 1919 winners left Germany only a small volunteer army of 100 thousand people, armed with light weapons. She could not have tanks, heavy artillery and military aircraft. Conscription, allowing you to create a massive army was abolished; the General staff were eliminated. German Navy winners captured and sunk. The Treaty of Versailles forbade Germany to build submarines and large warships with a displacement of more than 10 thousand tons. On the border of Germany with France and Belgium – the Rhine – were established in the Rhineland demilitarized zone, where Germany could not keep troops and build fortifications. The danger of war heightened when in a number of countries came to power dictatorial, authoritarian and totalitarian regimes, ready to change the existing system. Their most common characteristic was the full or partial liquidation of democratic rights and freedoms, suppression of the opposition, the dictatorship of one party headed by the leader, who had dictatorial power. In different languages the word "leader" sounded different; "Duce" in Italy, "the Fuhrer" in Germany, "Caudillo" of Spain, but all such leaders often came from the lower classes) were "charismatic personalities", that is, had the ability to attract the masses, to force them to obey and to follow him, much to the delight and worship. Being able to capture the mood and feelings of the crowd, possessing a strong will, good oratory, organizational skills and acting ability, they claimed to be the leaders of the nation, embodying its hopes and aspirations.
All in all, there are two opinions of the start of the Second World war. The first is supported by Vasques and is bound to the territory issues and psychological readiness to the war. There were lots of reasons to fight for the territories that were divided after the first world war. Each participant wanted to get them back. On the other hand, those countries that possesses the territories started to create unions to resist the aggression. On the other hand, according to Lebow a war is necessary to claim the nation’s spirit for the whole world to receive the sphere of the sphere of influence. That is why the war was started by Germany to claim again the power of German people to make up for the shameful loss in the previous war. It is worth to assume that both visions may be an explanation of the beginning of the war, since there were a lot of countries involved, and each had its own interests.
Works Cited
Lebow, Richard Ned. Why Nations Fight. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2010. Print.
Lindemann, Thomas. Causes Of War. Colchester, 2010. Print.
Vasques, John. A. "The Causes Of The Second Warld War In Europe: A New Scientific Explanation". International Political Science review 17.2 (1996): 161-178. Print.
