WORLD WAR II

The road to War in Europe

WWII
Treaty of
Versailles

Fascism

Causes of World War

II
Nazi
Germany

Appeasement
Failure of the league of
nations

Appeasement
To appease means to give in or allow someone
to do something in order to satisfy them.
After WWI, there was resistance to standing up
to fascism as Western democracies did not want
to risk the outbreak of another war.
USA adopted isolationist approach to avoid
being drawn in to European conflicts.
Britain and France came to see that the terms of
the Treaty of Versailles had placed restrictions on
Germany that were unfair. Hitler's actions were
seen as understandable and justifiable.

APPEASEMENT
Western democracies followed a policy of
appeasement
Based on Britain and France highest goal- the
avoidance of war
They took no effective action against German
breaches of the Treaty of Versailles

FAILURE OF THE
LEAGUE OF NATIONS
The League of Nations was an international
organisation set up in 1919 to help keep world
peace.
Intended that all countries would be members
Disputes between countries settled by
negotiation rather than by force.
If negotiations failed with the aggressive
country then no countries would trade with
that county.

Reasons for failure

Not all countries joined the League
The League had no power
-Great Depression hit and countries were
reluctant to lose trading powers
The League had no army
Unable to act quickly
-The Council of the League of Nations only met
four times a year all members had to agree

FASCISM
Political system in which the state has all the power
Fascist governments control the way people live and
focus on making their state strong and powerful
Focus on strong army- war and expansion
Intense nationalism
Racism, believing that some races were superior to
others
Contempt for democracy- believing dictators should
rule

RISE OF FASCISM
Italy- Mussolini 1922 created a dictatorship
- Banned other political parties, workers rights
destroyed, indoctrination process
Spain- Franco 1939 created a dictatorship
-Rebellion against democracy, aided by
Germany and Italy
Fascism also glorified war and violence as
means of achieving their aims

Road to WWII
Create a mind map of the Causes of World
War II

Under each heading write a few short

sentences explaining why it was a cause of
World War II