The Origins of World War II 1919–1941

Nazi Propaganda Poster

This open education resource is designed to be a collaborative textbook for teachers and students studying the origins of world war II.

• Introduction
• Seeking Permanent Peace
• Challenges to peace
• The outbreak of war
• Review

Objectives

The focusing questions of this topic are: (a) What attempts were made to establish a permanent peace after World War I? The search for security after World War I the Treaty of Versailles, its intentions and the German reaction; attempts at collective security: the League of Nations, Locarno and Kellogg-Briand Pacts (b) What challenges to peace occurred in the 1930s? Fascism and aggression aggression by fascist powers: invasion of Abyssinia, reoccupation of the Rhineland, Spanish Civil War; military pacts: Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Axis, German-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact; Asia and the Pacific: Japanese objectives in Manchuria, China. (c) Why did war break out? The failure of appeasement in the face of aggression rationale of appeasement: Anschluss and Czechoslovakia; advantages of aggressors; preparation, mobility, strike power; war in Europe and the Pacific: Poland, Barbarossa, Pearl Harbour.