Pair: Candice and Hock Jin

Who do we blame for the war? On one hand, we have Hitler with his expansionist policy, and the other, the League of Nations with the policy of appeasement. I believe that it was not fully Hitler’s fault for the outbreak of World War 2. Hitler did indeed went on a rampage with his expansionist policies, breaking almost every single terms in the Treaty of Versailles. A great example will be the remilitarisation of the Rhineland. He ordered German troops to cross the Hohenzollern Bridge and remilitarise the Rhineland. He used the Franco-Soviet Alliance as an excuse, saying that Germany was now under threat from France and the Soviet Union, and should be allowed to defend itself. He was merely testing the waters, the waters being the League of Nations. The League of Nations was afraid of causing another war that they decided to just condemn Hitler’s action. Nothing else. Furthermore, they displayed their weaknesses in enforcing disarmament and handling the Abyssinian crisis. Most of their disarmament attempts were a failure and the views of each country was more important than the views of the League, creating a general atmosphere of distrust. This encouraged Hitler to think that he can do anything he wanted. Since then, Hitler unified with Austria and invaded Czechoslovakia for more land. Had the League of Nation responded to Hitler’s violation of the Treaty of Versailles with a show of force immediately, they might have a chance of containing him. Due to the weaknesses of the League of Nations and the appeasement policy, Hitler grew stronger and had the advantage.

I cannot deny the fact that Hitler’s expansionist policies were part of the reason why World War 2 started. Hitler did way too many things that he should not have done. From how he invaded countries after countries, breaching the terms in the Treaty of Versailles, he have contributed many to the cause of World War 2. However, I believe that the League of Nations ultimately caused for most of his policies. If Hitler was stopped early after breaking one of the terms in Treaty of Versailles or perhaps after invading countries, then maybe the rest of the other policies won’t even exist. This is my counter argument for Hitler being the sole devil. He was determined to achieve his aims and abolish the Treaty of Versailles. Thus, when he broke a term in the Treaty, he should faced immediate punishment rather than being condemned on. The League of Nations should have stepped up and not give in to Hitler. This then could have prevented the subsequent events from happening and ultimately the war.