Alot of reasons actually... not all of them revoving around hitler and the Nazis. Sure they played a part but thing like ther treaty of versailles, the great depression, BRITAIN, FRANCE, OTHER EUROPEAN COUNTRIES, AND THE USA played a BIG part. If you wnat to know more than read the essay i am working on.... here it is
ROUGH DRAFT (2pages typed)
While some think that the Nazis were totally responsible for the Holocaust, others believe that all adult German citizens living at that time must share the responsibility. Still others say that because people in other countries like the United States and Great Britain knew about what was going on, they too, must accept some responsibility for what happened. As regards to that, there were many factors that were involved in starting WWII and the Holocaust, such as Germany’s invasion of Poland, the Great Depression, and the Treaty of Versailles.
Some people believe that not only Hitler and the Nazi party were the ones responsible for the beginning of WWII and the Holocaust, but all of the German people share the responsibility. It is said that the Nazi Ideology was accepted and carried out by the people of Germany which makes them very responsible for what happened. But they did not produce these ideas on their own. Hitler did great things for the Germans after WWI, during the depression, like provide jobs. They felt very disgraced at the time because of the situation their county was in, and Hitler promised to put an end to the humiliating conditions. He made Germany very rich very quickly and gained the people’s trust, which is when they started listening to his ideas and proposals. So the people of Germany may have been responsible for what had happened during WWII, and there were most defiantly German citizens that served Hitler’s cause, but not without the help of Adolf Hitler and his ideologies.
Although many people put all of the blame for WWII and the Holocaust on Hitler and the Germans, others believe that other countries such as Great Britain and the United States must also accept some responsibility. Other countries most certainly did play a part in the starting of the war. After WWI, European Countries signed the Treaty of Versailles, which was a peace treaty. The treaty contained articles that restricted any thing that would allow Germany from becoming too powerful. But during the great depression, countries such as Britain and France were concerned with their own problems and never kept their eye on Germany or enforced the Treaty. This allowed Germany to build up its forced without protest. Also, from 1935-1939, European countries and the United States declared the appeasement policy which allowed Nazi Germany to have pretty much anything they wanted, hoping that eventually Hitler would be appeased and give up his aggressive policies. They let him take the rest of Czechoslovakia and other territories, but little did they know, Hitler was not being appeased at all, but rather he was growing more and more greedy as they let him away more and more things. Therefore other countries such as Great Britain and The United States were very responsible for the beginning of WWII which lead to the Holocaust.
Although some people think that the second world war first started in 1937, when Japan invaded China, it was not legally started until England and France declared war against Germany in 1939. In 1939, Hitler staged a Polish attack on a small German radio station, and when he invaded Poland later that year one of his reasons was because he claimed that there was constant Polish attacks on Germany. England and France had a defence agreement with Poland, so when the Germans declared war with the Polish, the English and French declared war against the Germans. This was the official beginning of WWII. Some people say that if England and France never bothered to follow up with the defence agreement with Poland, then maybe the war would have not turned world wide, but rather stay between Germany and Poland. Others do not think this is true because Hitler was not only interested in attacking and taking over Poland, but all of Europe and eventually the world. So the invasion of Poland by the Germans did play a part in the beginning of WWII and what became the Holocaust.
Along with all of the factors involved in the beginning of WWII, the Great Depression was defiantly a major part. Before the first world war, Germany, England, and France were the industrial and financial capitols of the world. But after the war, they were left with big debts and plenty of war damage costs to pay. The United States had filled their place and was now owed over ten billion by European countries. But on October 29, 1929, the stock market crashed and set off the great depression. As bad off as Germany already was with Britain, America, and France already taking land and jobs away from Germany, the depression and war left them with a big dept to pay. This left the nazi party to step in a rule Germany which is when Hitler to come into power. As a result of the depression, other European countries were concentrated on their own problems and not watching over Germany. That is when Hitler built up his military forces and became more powerful than the rest of Europe. So as you can see, the depression did play a major part in the beginning of WWII, because if not, Hitler would not have come into power so quickly, or maybe even not at all and if he did the other countries would have not let him build up military forces and become so powerful.
Most people, if not all, say that the Treaty of Versailles was most responsible for WWII. In 1918, after WWI, the Treaty of Versailles, which was a peace treaty, was signed by the European countries. It required Germany to pay over thirty three billion dollars in damage cost from the war which caused a great economic distort and poverty through out. Their military forces were very limited and they were even forbidden to have soldiers placed in certain parts of their own country. They lost a lot of land to Africa, other European counties, and the Pacific. The Germans felt very humiliated and the treaty stated that they were entirely guilty of causing the first world war. Hitler, who was in power at he time, wanted revenge on national capitalists, Bolsheviks, and Jews, for they were the most responsible for Germans wide humiliation and because the entire German country was pretty angry, they agreed with him. Hitler was able to climb to power during the great depression because the other countries were to busy and poor to stop him and Germany was soon more powerful than the rest of Europe. In our opinion the Treaty of Versailles did play a major part in outbreak of WWII. It was a great idea and almost certainly would have prevented Germany from rising to power, but because of the Great Depression and the aftermath of WWI, it could not come in to effect as planned which resulted in the rise of Hitler and the Nazi empire.
Overall, there were many factors that contributed to the out break of WWII and not all of them were caused by the Nazi party. It is obvious that the citizens of Germany Britain, France, the United States, and many other counties are very much responsible for Hitler and the Nazis getting as powerful as they did. Also, other factors such as the appeasement policy made by the United States and other European countries, Germany’s invasion of Poland, the Great Depression, and the Treaty of Versailles played a big part also. Maybe if some of these things, like the depression or the appeasement policy never occurred, then Hitler would not have risen to power. Some of these occurrences may have only contributed in letting the war and Holocaust happen more quickly and others, if they never happened, may have prevented the tragedy altogether.
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