Why Did the Second World War Break Out?

The Second World War was the cause of 50 million deaths and £28,000 million loss to Britain’s economy; it was the worst and most costly event in human history. Obviously it is clear that the forces of Germany, and their leader Hitler, are responsible for war however the question is, did Hitler mean for war all along? Or was it just because Hitler was too carried away with using opportunities to his advantage? After looking at both the intentionalist and opportunist views of Hitler and his plans, I thought that he was both, he took opportunities and used them to his advantage however I think the main cause for war was the concrete plan he had for a greater Germany which of course, could not be accomplished without war.



I think that the causes for war were to do with Hitler’s aggression towards the rest of Europe such as Poland and Czechoslovakia; it was his constant demands such as the Rhineland and Sudetenland, and his betrayal of the Munich agreement and the treaty of Versailles that lead to Britain having no choice but to try and stop Hitler. I think a further point to make is that appeasement could be also the blame for world war two, however it is what everyone at the time wanted so it should not be blamed, even though war could have been stopped if someone had stepped up to Hitler in time. Another point to make is that I think war could not of been avoided, it could have been smaller, but could not of been avoided. I think this because Hitler’s actions from 1935-1939 were all actions of war preparation or in other words a plan for all out war which again another example of Hitler’s intentionalist actions. Such as conscription, united with Austria, allied with Russia (even though Hitler was extremely anti communist), and lastly he used the Spanish civil war to test his new army and help a fellow dictator win control of Spain. Hitler also spoke of things that could only be accomplished by war such as a 1000-year empire and a demand for lebensraum...