Walsh 1

Colin Walsh

Mrs. Butterfield

Modern World History Honors

19 April 2017

The Reasons Why World War II Happened

If they can settle their differences, we shall save the peace of Europe for a generation.

(British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain) Before the war started, Germany was gaining a lot

of power quickly. The British, not wanting to start another war since World War I ended

recently, tried give the Germans what they wanted to avoid war through appeasement. Despite

the effort of the British, World War II broke out within a year of the appeasement. The options

the British had at this time to try and stop or at least slow Germany down were appeasement or

collective security.

One choice (the way Britain chose to go) the British had was to try and appease Hitler

and Germany. Keith Eubank, author of Origins of World War II, said in his book, [N]either the

people nor the government of [Britain and France] were conditioned to the idea of war

England was not ready for another war at the time. They did not want to be plunged into another

war with the entire world after it just happened 20 years ago and it was one of the bloodiest wars

ever. The British army was also very weak at the time of appeasement so even if Germany went

against the agreement, it at least bought the British some time to build some form of military

strength. In the worst case scenario, Germany goes against their promise and Britain goes into

war more prepared for a war and in the best case scenario, Germany holds up it ends of the

agreement and war is completely avoided until something else threatens the world.
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The other choice that Britain had at the time to try and stop or at least slow down the

Nazis was to use collective security. In 1938, Winston Churchill made a speech that said the

following, I asked that Britain, together with France and other powers, guarantee the security of

Czechoslovakia. If that course had been followed, events would not have fallen into this

disastrous state Churchill claims that if the British said they would protect Czechoslovakia

from Germany, then Germany would have backed down and would not have taken

Czechoslovakia. Churchill thinks that the only way to keep peace at time was to hold back the

aggressor, who was Germany, as they were being very aggressive and was taking land at will.

I believe that appeasement was a good choice for the British to make. Appeasement

bought the British enough time to prepare for the war while also potentially stopping the war all

together. Collective security could have plunged the British into a war they were not ready for

because it was not going to stop the Germans from trying their hand at world domination as

Hitler felt like he was unstoppable. Appeasement might have actually helped England more than

it hurt them, which is what most people think of when they think of appeasement, harm.

World War II was caused because of many reasons. A couple of reasons why the war

started was appeasement and collective security and the choice that Britain had to make, should

they try to appease Hitler and the Germans or should they go the route of collective security.

World War I broke out largely because of an arms race, and World War II because of the lack

of an arms race. (Herman Kahn)

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Works Cited

Document 5: Neville Chamberlain, Speech to Parliament in 1933

Document 6: Winston Churchill, Speech to Parliament in 1938

Document 9: Keith Eubank, Origins of World War II, Thomas Y. Crowell Co., 1969

"Herman Kahn Quotes." BrainyQuote. Xplore, n.d. Web. 21 Apr. 2017.

<https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/h/hermankahn224158.html>