World War II: The conditions for war in Europe and Asia

The conditions and events that led to war in Europe began at the end of the First World War. With Germany’s defeat and the Treaty of Versailles put in place, Germany, a very nationalistic people, were humiliated. The Treaty of Versailles pointedly and directly shamed the German nation. It forced them to not only pay reparations to the various countries involved as well as make land concessions, but held the country personally accountable for the results of the war.

When Hitler rose to power, he thrived on nationalism, and painted the German people as a master race, who would rule the world. But in order to do this they needed room to grow (Lebensraum) and resources to do it. How to get those resources were tied hand in hand with their outgrowth.

Another factor is Hitler’s masterful manipulation of world leaders and his ability to come across as genuine and well meaning. He fooled Neville Chamberlain into believing that he had secured “peace in our time” after his meeting with Hitler, his initiation of Anschluss in Austria without a fight, his ability to maneuver and secure the Sudetenland from Czechoslovakia with the support of other nations, except Czechoslovakia, and in securing the support of Italy and Japan in order to serve the Germans needs, not the Italians or Japanese. Then, with the Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact, Hitler was able to prevent Soviet intervention in the guise of providing Stalin what he wanted in having Germany and the West against each other, and setting up Germany for war.

All of this finally culminated in Germany invading Poland in 1939 at which point it was very clear that Germany would continue it’s push for European domination unless someone put a stop to him.

The conditions in the Pacific were ignited by a set of very different circumstances. Japan’s xenophobic nationalism was fueled by Western colonization of Asia. With Western countries not really considering Japan an economic competitor, Japan found independent methods of economics its only recourse. But with Western colonization of Asia preventing them any real economic outlets the Japanese found themselves between a rock and a hard place. When the Japanese economy began to fail, they were sure that the United States would accept their position in China and when they did not this only embittered the Japanese more towards the United States.

The Japanese had little interest in the United States and believed themselves to be superior. Yamamoto Isoroku even commented that Americans were “self-indulgent weaklings.” With the outbreak of war in Europe, the Japanese were still focused on China. In aligning themselves with Germany and Italy, they believed that this would cause Russia and the United States to rethink their positions on China. But when the Japanese occupied French Indochina they were met with U.S. sanctions. Then came Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, and the American response was not what the Japanese expected.