Title: 10 Major Causes of World War II | Learnodo Newtonic
Headings: 10 Major Causes of World War II
10 Major Causes of World War II
#1 Paris Peace Conference of 1919
#2 Treaty of Versailles
#3 Italy Rebuffed
#4 Japan Dissatisfied
#5 Rise of Fascism
Italy
Nazi Germany
Statism in Japan
#6 The Great Depression
#7 Militarism
#8 Expansionism
#9 Failure of the League of Nations
#10 Invasion of Poland
Interwar Poland
Polish Corridor
Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact
The Invasion

Content: The treaty forbade the union of Germany and Austria and reduced Germany’s armed forces to very low levels. Its army was reduced to 100,000 men, the navy to 15,000 men while it was not allowed to maintain an air force. The treaty prohibited the country to own a certain class of equipment like armored cars, tanks, heavy guns and submarines. Germany was also made to politically accept the Weimer Republic Constitution and other western institutions which were out of sync with its culture and ethos. Article 231 of the treaty however remained the most controversial, which in many ways put the blame of the entire war on Germany. Also referred to as the war guilt clause, it led Germany into accepting a payment of $31.4 billion (£6.6 billion, roughly equivalent to US$442 billion or UK£284 billion in 2019) as war reparations and compensation to losses they had caused to certain countries in the Entente. These enormous charges led to hyperinflation and massive unemployment in the country. Ferdinand Foch on the Treaty of Versailles
Germans of all political shades denounced the treaty and viewed it as an insult to their nation’s honor. They referred to the treaty as “the Diktat” since its terms were presented to Germany on a take-it-or-leave-it basis. The humiliation caused by the Treaty and the economic woes it brought led to the rise of the National Socialists (Nazis), which in turn led to World War II.