DK - World War II Map by Map

12 THE SLIDE TO WAR 1918–

THE SEEDS OF WAR

The world of the 1920s and 1930s was scarred by ideological divisions, social

conflicts, and economic collapse. Aggressive militarists intent on conquest rose to

power in major states, notably Germany and Japan, and the clumsy efforts of liberal

democracies to preserve the peace only precipitated a headlong rush to war.

It is a sad irony that the origins of World War

II can be directly traced back to World War I,

which was known as “the war to end war.”

This immensely destructive conflict bred

a widespread popular longing for peace, but

also left a heritage of grievance, insecurity, and instability.

Germany in particular found it hard to come to terms with

defeat, and the Versailles peace treaty, devised by the

victorious powers in 1919, was bitterly resented by most

Germans, who felt it was too punitive. The German Weimar

Republic, the government founded in 1919, was weak,

facing hyperinflation and armed revolts from both the

right and the left.

From peace to rearmament

During the 1920s, there was encouraging evidence of

recovery, with a marked improvement in international

affairs. The League of

Nations, set up in 1920

under the terms of the peace treaty, pursued ambitious

plans for collective security and disarmament, although its

authority was lessened by the refusal of the US to take part.

After a crisis over enforcement of the Treaty of Versailles in

1923, Germany and France started making moves toward

normalizing relations, but true stability proved elusive.

The transformation of the former Russian Empire into the

Soviet Union—a Communist state theoretically committed

to world revolution—constituted a new unsettling factor in

international politics. In Italy, also fatally destabilized by

World War I, Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini took power.

In China, Nationalists struggled to uphold a central

government against Communists and warlords.

Hopes for a return to “normalcy” disappeared

definitively with the onset of the Great Depression in 1929,

after the Wall Street Crash. This crushing blow to the global

economy had a devastating impact on a world riven by

domestic and international tensions. As trade collapsed,

major powers were

tempted to seek

economic security

through political control

of territory and resources.

Faced with mass unemployment and falling

living standards, many countries abandoned

liberalism for authoritarian government.

In Germany, the impact of the Depression

turned Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Party from a

marginal extremist movement into a major

▷ Japanese firepower

The Type 92 heavy machine gun

was one of the weapons adopted

by Japan as it pursued military

expansion in the 1930s.

△ Nationalist propaganda

This Spanish Civil War poster promotes

the Nationalist cause. Fought between

Republicans and Nationalists, the war

epitomized the right–left divide that

polarized Europe in the 1930s.

BETWEEN THE WARS

In Europe, a period of turmoil

after the end of World War I

was followed by relative stability

in the mid-1920s. Then the onset

of the Great Depression in 1929

propelled Hitler’s rise to power

in Germany. After that, German

aggression led to crisis after crisis,

until the fateful invasion of Poland

that started World War II in

Europe in September 1939. The

Japanese invasion of China in 1937

had already led to war in Asia.

1918 1920 1922 1924 1926

EUROPE

ASIA

AMERICA

Nov 1920

League of Nations

officially begins

Jan 1923

Failed Nazi

Munich putsch

Jun 1919

Versailles

Treaty signed

Nov 1918 Armistice ends

World War I; Germany

becomes a republic

Oct 1922

Mussolini heads

government in Italy

Dec 1922

Soviet Union

founded

Jan 1923

French occupation of

the Ruhr to enforce

Versailles Treaty

Mar 1925

Death of

Chinese leader

Sun-Yat Sen

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