Did World War 1 lead to World War 2?

Answer 1

Hindsight can be wonderful but it can also distort. It's easy to assume that the whole interwar period in Germany was one vast buildup to World War 2, but this is very misleading. (This view seems to be very popular in the US).

The Weimar Republic did in fact work in the 1920s. It succeeded in putting down a series of uprisings (in 1920-23), ending hyperinflation (1923) and especially in the period from about 1924-29 Germany managed to establish reasonably good relations with many of its former enemies, especially France, Britain (and Russia). Reparations were renegotiated twice and made less burdensome.

There is a widespread view in the U.S. that the main reason for World War 2 was the harsh conditions of the Treaty of Versailles, but this is only half true (if that). The image that popular history portrays is of a nation seething with resentment and looking for revenge. This, too, is at most only half true. It is hard to imagine what kind of peace settlement would have satisfied hardline nationalists and conservatives, who were convinced that Germany had been stabbed in the back in 1918 by liberals, democrats, Jews, Socialist Democrats and Bolshevists. They blamed everyone except themselves for defeat.

Those who believed these conspiracy theories were politically marginal in the 1920s.

Germany was hit immediately and particularly severely by the shockwaves of the Great Crash. Foreign loans to Germany were recalled, unemployment rose sharply, investment, wages and prices fell. There was widespread hardship. (Contrary to a widespread misconception, there was no inflation in Germany in the early 1930s - quite the contrary. The inflation had ended in late 1923. Anyone who doubts this need only compare German stamps and banknotes from the early 1920s and early 1930s. There's no need to collect them. Just have a look on eBay).

Crisis of GovernmentWhat then followed, in addition to the severe economic crisis, was a crisis of government itself in Germany. Bruening, appointed Chancellor in 1930, had to govern largely be decree, often bypassing the Reichstag. Democracy was crumbling, as in many other European countries. Even then, it was not inevitable that the Nazis would come to power.

However, Germany lacked a broadly based, conventional conservative party. A dangerous gap emerged, which to an increasing extent was filled by the NSDAP. Hitler promised jobs and blamed the Great Depression on the Jews (conspiracy theories again). Obviously - and no one denies this - he also raved and ranted against the Versailles Treaty, but his main attack was on the Republic itself (not Versailles). At the same time, the Communist vote was rising in Germany, peaking at over 16% in November 1932, which alarmed the middle and upper classes.

Once in power, Hitler then set about reversing the defeat of 1918. One of main dreams was a vast German empire in Europe.

Other relevant issues include:The hasty and ill considered set-up of the League of Nations, (properly recognised and rectified with The United Nations 30 odd years later ).

The period of prosperity felt in Germany and around the world in the late 1920s in many ways made the onset of the Depression much harder to take.

And yet - fundamental continuitiesIf you think you haven't been defeated at all, then any peace treaty seems harsh (unless it treats you as the winner).

The biggest problem of all, though, was that the revolution of 1918 was shallow. The old elites with their dreams of expansion moved into the background and waited till the times were more favourable. The old elites weren't enthusiastic about Hitler personally but were willing to work with him. His dreams of boundless expansion in eastern Europe certainly appealed to them - and had almost nothing to do with Versailles or appeasement! Germany had won a brief, illusory victory over Russia in 1917-18, but it was of no practical use once Germany was defeated on the Western Front. Hitler, along with some others, felt that in some sense Germany had been 'cheated' of the fruits of victory on the Eastern Front.

In another thread, I read the simple answer "unfinished business from WWI". Though not the whole answer, it's nothing like as far-fetched as many may think. Key German elites had been very restless and dissatisfied with Germany's position in Europe and in the world ever since the 1890s. They were also afraid of the Social Democrats (up to 1914) and of the Bolshevists (after 1917). What I find very odd in many answers on this site is the almost total absence of any discussion of events within Germany itself, as if foreign policy was conducted in complete isolation from domestic policy.