World War II

ALSO KNOWN AS the Second World War, World War II was a worldwide conflict from 1939 until 1945, involving every major power in the world, and is generally considered the largest and deadliest continuous war [Page 1201]in human history. The outbreak of the second global conflict can be attributed to the conditions created by the peace settlements (1919–20) following World War I, the Great Depression (1930s), and the rise of totalitarian, militaristic regimes in Germany, Italy, and Japan (1922–33).

The peacemaking process that opened at the Paris Peace Conference on January 18, 1919, dictated settlements that contained the seeds of the future conflict on a global scale. The Treaty of Versailles was particularly rich in articles that were both offensive to German national honor and unduly oppressive and vindictive. Numerous territorial adjustments and provisions appeared to be more of a German containment and punishment than a genuine attempt to bring a lasting solution to long-standing points of contention among major European powers.

The amount of reparations that Germany was required to pay to the victorious Allies was assessed at 132 billion gold marks, payable in fixed annuities of 2 billion and variable annuities equal to 26 percent of the value of Germany's exports. Germany's inability to service such a heavy reparations burden led to the Franco-Belgian occupation of the Ruhr Valley in January 1923.

The carving up of Austria-Hungary by the peacemakers of Paris created several inter-Allied disputes, among which were bitter disputes between Italy and the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes (future Yugoslavia) over Dalmatia and the city of Rijeka (Fiume), and wrangling between Poland and Czechoslovakia over the Teschen area.

Japan's annexation of Manchuria in 1931, or the Manchurian Incident, and the inability of the League of Nations to address legitimate Chinese grievances highlighted the impotence of the post-World War I institutions to secure long-lasting peace.

The collapse of the New York stock market in October 1929 marked the beginning of the world economic depression, known as the Great Depression. The depression spread throughout every vital part of the world economy and caused massive unemployment and widespread poverty. In Germany the number of unemployed soared to two million in the winter of 1930, and to six million in 1932.

The democratic institutions of the West, with the exception of the United States, proved unable to solve the puzzle of the deep, prolonged economic depression. Communism in the Soviet Union, Fascism in Italy, aggressive militarism and nationalism in Japan, and National Socialism in Germany established themselves as working models for fighting economic depression and political volatility. Dictatorships, public works, rearmament, and military conscription appeared to be a viable and preferred alternative to the two decades of dissatisfaction, fruitless political squabbles, economic insecurity, and a meager future.

The interplay of economic downturn and the widespread popularity of nationalism was particularly visible in Germany. The National Socialist German (Workers) Party (Nazi Party), an ultranationalist political organization, had only 12 seats in the Reichstag in 1928. In 1930, the party won 107 seats, and 230 in July 1932. In January 1933, following the November 1932 elections in which his party won 196 seats, Adolf Hitler, the leader of the Nazi Party, was appointed German chancellor.

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