The History of~World War 2 (Part 1: Leading to War)

As I keep saying that "Nothing has shook the world, nothing has caused so much death and destruction and nothing has shaped our modern era like World War 2".

This is the first of 7 parts of Mankind's worst conflict. This is part 1 where it'll cover the events that lead up to World War 2 in both Europe and the Pacific.

## World War 1 Aftermath

In 1919, the leaders of the Western Alliance had gathered in the French Castle called *"Chateau de Versailles"* (Versailles Castle) not far from Paris.

In a place in the castle called the *Hall of Mirrors*. The 3 leaders: US President *Woodrow Wilson*, British Prime Minister *David Lloyd George* and French President *Georges Clemenceau* discussed the details of the treaty which would bring an end to *World War 1*.

However, there was a debate on how to interprate this treaty.

Clemenceau, seeing on how devastated France was after the war wanted to punish the Germans severely, make them pay a lot in *War Reparations* and hold them responsible for the war.

Wilson wanted to introduce something he calls his *"14 Points"* and it was the opposite of what Clemenceau wanted. Not to be hard on the Germans and rebuild the economy of Europe as a whole, and even come up with a centralized council which would be known as the *League of Nations*.

George was in the middle, like Wilson he also wanted to help with the rebuilding of Europe as well as make Germany pay for the destruction of the war, but not to the extent of what Clemenceau wanted.

In the end however, the Treaty had all 3 of the leaders' input, and German Politician *Johannes Bell* signed the treaty. The treaty is to basically tell Germany that it can't be the aggressor in the future.

For the German Military, it must reduce it's manpower to 100,000 Soldiers. Have only 6 Battleships and no submarines in it's Navy, and to completely dismantle it's airforce. It also had to pay 130 Billion German Marks (adjusted for inflation, around $30 Billion Today) in war reparations, and demilitarize a region in Germany called the "Rhineland".

### Territory

Germany must also give up some of it's claimed territory.

In Europe, it had to give a region called *Alsace-Lorraine* back to France and even give them the coal rich region of *Saar.* It also had to give up Prussia to Lithuania and other regions to Poland, Denmark and Czechoslovakia.

Germany also had to give up it's claims in Africa to either Britain or France.

Germany also must pay around 20 Billion Gold Marks (the equivalent of $5 Billion modern US Dollars) in War Reparations, and must be held accountable for the devastation of Europe and starting the war. As for alliances, Germany was not allowed to ally itself with Austria.

What came in the wake of the German Empire was a weak, fragile nation called the "Weimar Republic", and the people of this new republic was none at all happy with what has happened to their glorious nation, especially during the Great Depression which hit Germany especially hard.

One man was determined to change that and return Germany to it's former glory, a WW1 Veteran who fought for the central powers (and a Snake in the Grass). His name was *Adolf Hitler*. In 1921, he formed what would be known as the NDASP Party (later known as the Nazi Party).

Hitler would blame the Treaty of Versailles as well as Judaism, Communism and Gypsies for the ruination of Germany.

As time went on, the NDASP Party would gain more seats in the Wiemar Government until in 1933, Hitler was elected as the Chancellor of Germany.

He would use somewhat brutal tactics to scare the members of the Government to do what he wants, with this he was allowed to bypass the Treaty of Versailles and build up an army bigger than what was in the Treaty.

A year after his election, he ordered the SS (Shutzstaffel, or "Guard Squadron") to assassinate the SA (Sturmabteilung, or "Storm Detachment") in an event that would be known as the "Night of the Long Knives" where he would not only have the leader of the SA "Ernst Rohm" killed, but also politicians that disagreed with Hitler, News reporters that wrote negative articles about him, and even one man who the SS mistaken for somebody else, these men weren't the only ones but also their families were killed. With this, Hitler's control on Germany was absolute and was able to build up a military force and even war technology. In 1938, Hitler bypassed the Treaty again by invading Austria.

Hitler was also hoping to achieve what he believed to be "Lebensraum" (Living Space) for the German "Aryan" Race as Hitler believed them to be superior to other ethnicities in Europe (especially people of Slavic Decent and those of the Jewish Faith).

Then, British prime Minister "Neville Chamberlain" and a few other leaders from Europe gathered to meet Hitler in Munich. They were negotiating a deal where Germany would get a part of Czechoslovakia (modern-day Czechia) called the "Sudetenland" where the people living there had German heritage only if Hitler promised to not invade anymore of Europe. Hitler initially agreed to this. But then went behind their backs and invaded more of Czechoslovakia.

Meanwhile, Fascist Italian Leader, Benito Mussolini also wanted to take more territory, so he sent his Italian forces into the primitive country of Ethiopia.

## In The Pacific

The Japanese Empire has been an aggressor since the dawn of the 20th Century. It has taken the Korean Peninsula and even fought a war against China and Russia. By 1931, Japan wanted more as it invaded the Chinese Province of Manchuria as they believed that the Chinese blew up a Japanese train in the area.

This was also during the time of the Chinese Civil War where the Nationalists led by Chien Kai-Shek and the Communists led by Mao Tse-Tung were fighting for dominance in China since 1927.

In 1937, Japan wanted to take advantage of a militarily weak China and invade more of the nation, they kidnap Chieng Kai-Shek and hold him hostage.

This is where the 2 Chinese parties have to put aside their differences and ally with each other  to combat the Japanese, thus beginning the second Sino-Japanese *War*.

This is ti for this part. The Second part (just click here) will be about how the war in both regions began.