Pair: Ricmond & Charmaine

With his Expansionist Policy, Hitler started challenging the Treaty of Versailles when he came into power in 1933. He adopted an aggressive foreign policy and had taken advantage of events and made use of threats of violence to achieve what he wanted. While the other countries were unwilling to join the war to avoid another catastrophe, Hitler had diverted his energy to abolishing the Treaty of Versailles. He was also encouraged by the sequence of events happening to go on further. Hitler had also used the French's objection to Hitler's proposed disarmament to the level where Germany had disarmed due to the Treaty of Versailles to leave the Geneva Conference and withdraw from the League of Nations. From there, he had actively been involved in upgrading and increasing Germany's military capabilities to achieve his expansionist aims. This means that he made use of the opportunities that were unknowingly given by the sequence of events and also the French's decision to reject his proposed actions. He had set his aims even higher with these events acting as an encouragement for him to look further ahead to fight for the rights of his country. Thus, Hitler was the devil and he should bear most responsibility for the outbreak of World War 2.

However, part of the responsibility for the outbreak of World War 2 lies with the League of Nations. The League of Nations was established to strive for peace between nations, but the weaknesses in its structure and organisation and the lack of commitment amongst the major powers severely affected its authority and credibility. The major powers were already severely affected by the previous war and had required to pump in their army, forces and money into rebuilding the country. Also, some countries feared the war as it brought much harm and disaster to their country. With the major powers unwilling to show commitment to the League of Nations, it was a perfect opportunity for Hitler to rise up and rebuild his country and army. The failure of the disarmament process deeply impacted the League of Nations and caused it to give the impression that it was incapable of having the ultimate say in a country's decisions. After having failed numerous disarmament talks and discussions, it was deemed quite incompetent as well. Also, after the Abyssinian Crisis, Hitler could safely assume that the League Of Nations was too weak to intervene his plans and did not take the League of nations as a threat thereafter. Thus, partial responsibility for the outbreak of World War 2 lies with the League of Nations.

I agree that Hitler should be responsible for the outbreak of WWII. Hitler’s aims were aggressive, and he openly stated them in his book “Mein Kampf”. It was written that firstly, he wanted to destroy the Treaty Of Versailles and secondly, he wanted to create a better Germany. When he came to power, he made use of every mean to achieve his aims. In 1934, Hitler tried to take power in Austria but backed down when Italy moved its army to the border. In 1935, Hitler increased the size of the German army to half a million members. In 1936,German troops reoccupied the Rhineland. In 1937, Hitler tested his armed forces when German bombers, which are helping the fascists in the Spanish Civil War, bombed the Spanish town of Guernica. In 1938, Hitler occupied Austria. He first encouraged the Austrian Nazis to demand a union with Germany, then he invaded Austria when their chancellor announced a vote to see what the Austrians want. In 1939, Hitler invaded Czechoslovakia and took control. He also invaded Poland and provoked the second world war. This was just short period of five years but yet, Hitler did not stay committed to the terms in Treaty Of Versailles and even tried to invade other countries so many times. His actions aroused anger in many countries and led to WWII.

We have been saying the reasons why Hitler was responsible for the cause of WWII. But think again, would it be possible for a war to occur just because of one person? It takes two hands to clap isn’t it? There are definitely other parties involved. In this case, the League Of Nations should also bear some responsibilities for causing the war. In this case, the Treaty Of Versailles contained way too many unreasonable terms like War-Guilt Clause and demilitarisation of Rhineland. These terms caused anger to be built up in Hitler and thus, causing him to retaliate. The tension between HItler and League Of Nations would not have occurred if the terms in the Treaty Of Versailles were reasonable. At that time, if the terms were negotiated between both parties, both parties would have been satisfied and accepted the terms wholeheartedly. However, the Treaty Of Versailles was initiated to punish Germany. The other countries made use of this chance to be paid for their reparations so that Germany would bear all the losses. This then led to the unpleasant relationship between Germany and League Of Nations. If the League of Nations had handled the treaty properly, this outbreak of WWII would not have occurred.

Done by: Chloe & Jing Wen

Geni(11) and Shannon(3)

Argument:

Hitler should bear the most responsibility for World War Two because he made decisions that will make Germany stronger, which allowed them to participate and start a war that will threaten many countries. He broke the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, by wanting Rhineland to be remilitarised again, which was supposed to be totally demilitarized after World War One. In addition, his idea of uniting Germany with Austria succeeded, and this means that he will have a larger area of land and more areas bordering the New Germany. Austria’s resources of gold and iron ore were now at Hitler’s disposal, as well as its army and weapons. Not to mention, Hitler also signed the Nazi-Soviet pact on 23 August 1939, that allowed him to get half of Poland, without fighting and getting attacked by the Soviet Union, which gave them the advantage of fighting a single front war. Germany, in addition, got important resources from the Soviet Union which were helpful if there is a war. Therefore, all of these were the causes of World War Two as Hitler became bolder and more aggressive after each time his plan succeeded. This was because he did not met with any resistance from the League of Nation. Lastly, German involvement in the Spanish Civil War took place without the League of Nations taking any actions against Germany for their actions.

Rebuttal:

Although Hitler played an important role for the outbreak of World War Two, the League of Nations also contributed to it. This is because the members of the League of Nations did not take any actions and they only cared their interests of their own nations. For example, Britain signed a Anglo-German Agreement with Germany, which allowed them to have a navy that had one-third the tonnage of Britain’s surface fleet and have an equal tonnage of submarines. This made it seemed as though Britain was encouraging the behaviour of Germany, thus confusing the British and arousing the anger of the French. In addition, the policy of appeasement allowed Hitler to get what he wants, which made war inevitable. Therefore, we believed that if the League of Nations took efficient actions towards Hitler, the outbreak of World War Two may be prevented.

Hitler was completely focused on building a German empire and was willing to destroy anything that got in his way. Hitler tried taking land from other countries in an effort to expand his empire that he was building. He broke several agreements of the armistice and built up the German army, powerful war machines and air force illegally. Once Hitler's military was rebuilt, Germany will become a stronger country with military defenses and Germany will then begin invading countries to expand Germany’s territory. This is why World War Two was the German's fault.

They had signed agreements, saying they wouldn't invade any countries but after, as Hitler wanted to extend his empire, he became even bolder and more demanding in his action, they continued to invade Poland, Austria, Rhineland, Czechoslovakia and was committed to conquer Europe. This lead into World War 2 because he betrayed the counties.

However, it was not only Hitler's fault that caused the war.The Britain and the France were at fault too.Hitler was not a man of his word and in March 1939 invaded the rest of Czechoslovakia. Despite calls for help from the Czechoslovak government, neither Britain nor France was prepared to take military action against Hitler. However, some action was now necessary and believing that Poland would be Hitler's next target, both Britain and France promised that they would take military action against Hitler if he invaded Poland. Chamberlain believed that, faced with the prospect of war against Britain and France, Hitler would stop his aggression. Chamberlain was wrong. German troops invaded Poland on 1st September 1939.If France and the Britain had taken actions against Hitler when he was invading Czechoslovakia , Hitler would not be even greedier in his demands and more arrogant which then lead to World War 2.

Done by : Evelyn Quek & Ong Jun Xi

Hitler should be held accountable for the outbreak of World War 2. His expansionist policy contributed greatly and he took advantage of both the Treaty of Versailles the situations and that point of time. Germans resented the treaty and Hitler used that reason to justify his actions -- others thought Hitler just wanted to take back what was Germany's. Hitler remilitarised Rhineland, using the Franco-Soviet alliance, which effectiveness was greatly undermined, as an excuse saying that Germany was under threat from France and the Soviet Union, and Germany should be allowed to defend its own frontiers. Hitler's standing among the Germans and with the German army increased tremendously and caused hi to be even bolder in his demands. Hitler had Germany involved in the Spanish Civil War. He had portrayed himself as a defender of civilisation and misled the Western powers to trust Hitler to be able to defend against communism as the Western powers did not want the communists to win. In reality, Hitler's involvement was just a plan to divert the British's and French's attention from his plans for expansion into Eastern Europe. It was a good opportunity for him to test his army and air force. Hitler also withdrew from the League of Nations and then took concrete action to increase Germany's military capabilities towards achieving his expansionist aims. This allowed him to pursue his aggressive foreign policy without having to regard the objections and threats from the League and allowed Germany's rearmament. Therefore, Hitler should be held responsible.

Then again, Hitler should not be the only one to be held accountable. The weaknesses of the League of Nations (LON) were partly contributing factors for the outbreak of World War 2. The League had no military force of its own to enforce its decrees and was thus ineffective in regulating Germany. The League had no significant power. A particular example would be where the League kept asking member countries to stop trading with an aggressive country. However, countries could still trade with non-member countries and member countries were reluctant to lose trading partners. Also, not all countries joined the League and the League was lacking credibility. The three great powers were not members of the League and the United States (US) had refused to join as it was following a policy of isolationism. The US Senate did not want the USA to become involved in world affairs that might require its young men to fight another war. US was the wealthiest and most power country after World War 1 -- its policy of isolationism and absence from international affairs weakened the League and caused the League to lack reputation and credibility. The League also failed to get countries to disarm. A LON commission was to supervise the disarmament but Germany disarmed slowly and took advantage of the loopholes in the Treaty of Versailles. Germany was only allowed an army of 100 000 troops but Germany trained all these men as officers and trained the soldiers to be ordinary soldiers. As a result, the German army had almost 100 000 officers and many ordinary soldiers. The LON failed to ensure that countries disarm or limit their navies. As a result, Germany was able to build smaller but heavily armed battleships which did not pass through the League's requirements. In 1923, the League suggested a Treaty of Mutual Assistance where countries were to agree to limit their arms but the League would come to their defence if they were attacked but few countries agreed to the Treaty. The failure to get counties on naval and military disarmament was one of the key weaknesses of the League.

Though Hitler should be taking most of the blame, Hitler was the only reason why World War 2 broke out. The League of Nations has to bear responsibility for it as well.

-- Jayne, Valen.

To start us off, Hitler should be accountable for World War 2. There were other ways that Hitler could have chose to go on about, but he had to choose the most destructive road that led to his 'success'.Truth to be told, he started the war for his own benefit. He prioritized his own goals over the ones of Germany. In his book, 'Mein Kampf' or 'My Struggles', he stated that he desired war. He wanted to hold the key that controlled the world. He wanted the whole world to bow down to Germany and to give the other countries a taste of their own medicine. Many innocent lives were lost due to Hitler's actions. Many were sent to concentration camps and some were even subjected to his cruel human experimentations. In a way, he betrayed humanity by torturing many, young and old, to their deaths. Basically, he had a psychopathic personality that led to many losing their lives on the battleground for no good reason.Furthermore, if it wasn't for him letting his thirst for power override his original plans to bring Germany back to her former glory, the world would not have gone to war again despite knowing how much destruction the first war brought. Germany was already weak from the first war yet he had to bring the country into another war without thinking that if Germany were to lose, she might not be able to recover this time.The Nazi empire was meant to serve and protect the Germans yet they brought nothing but death as they annihilated those that oppose them. In the end, they left nothing behind except the synonym for human evil.

Yes, the terms of the Treaty of Versailles was a part of why Hitler wanted to start a war, however this was not a main reason. His psychotic personality and thirst for power was what drived him to start a war. He only used the treaty as a cover-up/trigger so that he could used this as a stepping stone for world domination.

Jordalyn and Jessintha

Hitler should bear the most responsibility for the outbreak of World War 2. He’s expansionist foreign policy played a major role in the outbreak of World War 2. When he came to power in 1933, he tried to challenge the Treaty of Versailles and adopted an aggressive foreign policy. He threatens to use violence to achieve his aims which are, establishing a greater Germany, create Lebensraum, and establish the superior Aryan race. It was also obvious to him that his enemies, Britain and France were reluctant to go to war, and was willing to compromise to avoid disasters like World War 1 to repeat itself again. This gave Hitler to opportunity to become stronger and bolder, as others have second thoughts of starting another war, while Hitler strengthens his own country. He used the excuse of French not wanting to disarm to the level of armaments that the Treaty of Versailles allowed Germany as an excuse to withdraw from the conference. After his withdrawal, he increased Germany’s military capabilities. This is what made Germany an even stronger country. Also, after World War 1 Chamberlain was traumatized and his military power was not strong enough, so he was not confident into going to war with Germany. Therefore, he decided to give in to Hitler and gave him anything he wanted. This had made Hitler become even stronger and powerful than before. For the first case, Sudetenland was given to Hitler. Even so, Hitler chose to be stubborn and worked his way towards his expansionist policy for Germany’s former glory, and set his eyes on the whole of Czechoslovakia. Since 1937, Hitler wanted the ‘Free City’ of Danzig to be part of Germany, and Polish Corridor to reconnect Germany with East Prussia. However, trust issues between Polish leaders and Hitler increased the tension between Poland and Germany and negotiations broke down. He then became greedy and even demanded for the control over the Polish Corridor in 1939. Hitler was the source of World War 2 because his actions caused the tensions between countries. If he had not acted in this way, the problem would not have even risen. Hitler chose to act in violence so the League of Nations had no choice but to declare war on Germany.

However, I feel that the outbreak of World War 2 was not entirely Hitler’s fault. The weakness of the League of Nations should also hold some responsibilities. If the League of Nations had been firm to control Hitler, World War 2 might not exist. Hitler was given an opportunity to be able to build his own army and strength from the failure of the Geneva Disarmament Conference and withdrawal from the League of Nations, which allowed him to rapidly improve Germany’s military capabilities for his expansionist policy. Furthermore, when Hitler requested for remilitarization, the League of Nations underestimated Germany’s power when they had a stronger military than Germany, so they thought that they were able to keep Germany in check. In addition, the pacifist mood of the League of Nations caused them to only make verbal protests towards Hitler in fear of starting another war. Hitler was then encouraged to transform Germany into a formidable and dangerous military power, which later enabled Hitler to implement his expansionist policy. In my opinion, I also feel that the League of Nations were too careless with Germany’s progression so they could actually have prevented it. The League of Nations were fooled by the designed war in Spain so they set their sights into eastern Europe, which aided Hitler in turning away the League of Nations’ attention from his expansionist policy. Therefore, it was not solely Hitler’s fault because of the weakness of the League of Nations, which gave Hitler enough time for his expansionist policy to be a success with a stronger military force that was able to overcome the forces of the League of Nations.

Done by: Jodie and Ke Ying

Should Hitler bear the most responsibility for the outbreak of WW2?

I agree to a large extent that Hitler should bear the most responsibility with regards to World War II.With Hitler's Foreign Policy,he wanted all German-speaking citizens to live together in a 'Greater Germany',exterminating the Jews as bonus and increase lebensraum(living space) for Germans' welfare. This threatens the security of Eastern European country; example, Czechoslovakia, Austria, Hungary, Poland, etc. Hitler's Foreign Policy aims to make Germany's military stronger and recover the land lost during the signing of Treaty of Versailles.Thus, making this one of the factor that led Germany obtained the capability to become aggressive(one step closer to war).The policy too challenged communism for Lebensraum in Russia, aiming to destroy communism(suggesting a potential war between the two great powers of Europe).Other than Hitler's Foreign Policy,the Expansionist Policy plays a major role in the outbreak of World War II.He aimed to abolish the Treaty of Versailles, bringing the union of Germany and Austria.This policy goes back to the late 1933, where Hitler got to power and challenged the Treaty of Versailles.In this policy, Hitler Withdraws from the League of Nations and the Geneva Disarmament Conference; Conscription and Rearmament and Remilitarisation of the Rhineland.This policy strengthen Germany's military, preparing Germany for the war.Hitler cleverly took advantage of events and also used the threat of violence to achieve his aims.It became obvious that his most powerful potential enemies, England and France were reluctant to go to war ,and were willing to compromise to avoid another disaster like World War I.This brought advantage to Hitler during the policy of appeasement in 1938, where he requested for the land of Sudetenland in the Munich Agreement.Thus led to the invasion of Czechoslovakia,making the policy of appeasement a failure,later abandoned.With all this advantages that led to a strong Germany,a total of 6 million Jews were killed during the holocaust,around 8.7 million soviet soldier died in the course of the war and more were killed.

Yet, it is not all Hitler's fault,the weakness of League of Nation too largely led to the outbreak of World War II.In 1919, Treaty of Versailles was created by the League of Nations.It aimed to ensure that there Germany would not have the strength to start a second World War but instead helped Hitler to get to his envious goal.One of the factor that truly weakens the League of Nations is the lack of commitment of the major power than;United States of America.The disarmament failure and the Abyssinian Crisis are the fuel to Hitler's egocentric fire of his;World War II.The League of Nations attempted disarmament during the 1920s and 1930s.The Washington Naval Conference of 1921 was one of the example of failure in disarmament,where many major european powers refuses to cooperate to the negotiation, where countries did not trust each other and wanted to ensure their own national interest.Thus,making it impossible to establish disarmament in countries.The Abyssinian Crisis in 1935 is a failure by the League of Nations, which serve as a prime example of its ineffectiveness in maintaining world peace.When Italy invaded Abyssinian, Britain and France did not impose meaningful sanction on Benito Mussolini, the leader of Italy then.With the ineffective intervention of the Abyssinian Crisis, thus this made Mussolini and Hitler bolder in their ambition where Mussolini established the Rome-Berlin Axis with Hitler later in the same year.

In Conclusion, I believe largely that the Hitler should bear the most to the damage it had done on countries during WW2.Yet, due to the weakness of League of Nations, it aided Hitler in becoming more ambitious to conquer the world.

Done By: Yap Jia Jun & Wen Ling

Hitler is the sole reason that World War 2 to happen. He started to break the curfew of the Treaty of Versailles. Hitler expanded Germany’s military power even though he could only have 100000 men (army), 15000 men (navy), no air force, no tanks and no submarines. He militarise the Rhineland which he gave excuse saying that it was self defence against Franco-Soviet Alliance. Hitler took advantage of the events and used it to accomplish his goals. He knew that even though the British and France were powerful potential enemies, they were not willing to go to war so he tried to abolish the Treaty of Versailles. The Germans believed that Hitler was justified in his actions. When Hitler said that French should be disarm to the same level as Germany or Germany get to rearm to French level at League of Nations and was rejected of his idea. Hitler uses this as an excuse to withdraw from the League of Nation and started to increase Germany’s military power towards his expansionist policy aims. Hitler started to get Germany involve in the Spanish civil war to test out his troops. Then during 13 March 1938, Hitler had control over Austria which means he broke a regulation of the treaty of Versailles, Britain and France did not know. He was given the Sudetenland by Prime Minister Chamberlain through an appeasement so that Hitler would not start a war. Hitler broke the appeasement and started to invade Czechoslovakia. Hitler had his eyes on Poland and invades Poland. With his expansionist policy, Hitler was able to go to war. Hitler has the most responsibility for the outbreak of World War 2.

However, some responsibilities lie on the League of Nations as they were supposed to upkeep peace and prevent such war to happen. The weaknesses of the League of Nations partly caused the outbreak of World War 2. They wanted to ensure that Germany would not start a second war but yet they help Hitler to perform and achieve his goals. The League of Nations gave fascists’ leaders the opportunity to do whatever they wanted with the Policy of Appeasement. When Japan invaded Manchuria, all they did was they gave them warnings. Their response was not firm and allowed countries like Germany, Japan and Italy to walk over them. The League of Nations allowed Hitler to rebuild his army and strength due to the failure of the Geneva Disarmament Conference and his withdrawal from the League of Nations. This enabled Hitler to rapidly improve Germany’s military abilities for his expansionist policy. Furthermore, the League of Nations was powerless and silent in event such as Hitler’s remilitarisation of the Rhineland. The League underestimated Germany’s power when they had stronger military and they thought that could handle Germany to prevent them from starting war. Thus, in all, Hitler is not the only one to blame for. The weaknesses of the League of Nations also had some role that lead to the outbreak of World War 2. The weaknesses of the League of Nation caused World War 2 when they gave ways for Hitler to improve and become powerful.

Done by: Yu Shun & Nadhirah Zain

Why hitler was solely responsible for WW2?

plzzz argu on it........................