Was Hitler’s Foreign Policy to Blame for the Second World War?

• Germany invaded Poland on 3rd September 1939, starting WWII — just 21 years after WWI ended.
• Three historical viewpoints exist: the orthodox view (Hitler planned it all), the revisionist view (Hitler was an opportunist exploiting a weak system), and a middle view (both are partly true).
• The Treaty of Versailles humiliated Germany and created the resentment that helped Hitler rise to power.
• The League of Nations failed repeatedly (Manchuria 1931, Abyssinia 1935) — proving to Hitler it wouldn't stop him.
• Hitler broke the Treaty of Versailles step by step: rearmament (1933) → Rhineland (1936) → Anschluss (1938) → Sudetenland (1938) → rest of Czechoslovakia (1939).
• Appeasement — Britain and France's policy of giving in to avoid war — let Hitler get away with each of these moves.
• The Nazi-Soviet Pact (August 1939) removed Hitler's fear of a two-front war and cleared the way for the invasion of Poland.
• Britain and France finally abandoned appeasement, guaranteed Poland's borders, and declared war when Hitler invaded.

Let's set the scene. The Second World War began on 3rd September 1939 — but you can't understand *why* it started without understanding the alliances and the years of build-up that came before it.

Who Was On Whose Side?

Here's a twist that catches a lot of students out: the USSR actually started the war on Germany's side — sort of. They'd signed a non-aggression pact with Germany in August 1939 (the Nazi-Soviet Pact). It was only when Germany broke that pact and invaded Russia in 1941 that the USSR flipped to join the Allies.

Three Historical Viewpoints — This Is the Heart of the Debate

Every exam question on this topic is really asking you to weigh up these three interpretations. Get comfortable with all three, because you'll need to use them to argue both sides.