Changes

The second world war (1939-1945) was possibly the most destructive war in human history. It is believed that between 35 and 50 million people died in the conflict.<ref> Bell, P. M. H. (1986). ''The Origins of the Second World War in Europe''. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 326.</ref> There are many causes for of this conflict, including nationalism and the failure of the League of Nations, but ultimately the primary cause of the greatest conflict in human history was Nazi ideology and policies.

The Treaty of Versailles, that ended the first world war is perhaps the most controversial peace treaty in history; ‘many have judged it to be too harsh and others have judged it to be not harsh enough’.<ref>Bell, p.77.</ref> Germany and the other defeated Central powers lost territory, had their military forces limited and were obliged to pay reparations. Germany was especially treated harshly. The German public was outraged when the Treaty’s terms were publicized because they believed that Germany had neither started the war nor been decisively defeated on the battlefield. The Treaty was treated Germany as if had been conquered and they felt that was both their country unfairly and inaccurate. Germany lost about one -fifth of its territory as a result of the Treaty. Overnight millions of Germans became citizens of other countries, such as Poland. The Treaty legally limited the size and scope of the German armed forces which was intended to prevent that the country from starting another war. The Nazis benefitted from the harsh terms of the Treaty of Versailles helped the rise of the Nazis and it allowed them to not only justify their aggressive policies, but portray Germany as the true victim of the Great War..<ref>Bell, p. 144.</ref>

The Nazi ideology was based upon premised on the idea that the German people were ‘the master race’ and they were biologically superior to other people . It was genuinely believed that Germans were phsyicaly, physically mentally and morally superior to races such as the Slavs in Eastern Europe. This led to the belief that the German people should dominated dominate the other races in Europe. The party’s leader preached that other races such as the Jews were determined to prevent the German people from achieving their destiny.<ref>Paxton, Robert (2005). ''The Anatomy of Fascism''. London: Penguin Books Ltd., p 123</ref> Their ideology also demanded that all Germans live in a German state and they wanted all non-Germans expelled from Germany. The Nazi believed that the German people had the right to ‘living space’ in order to create a great nation. The Nazi’s saw international relations as a struggle for power and that only the strongest nations would survive. As a result, they rejected all forms of international law and ignored the League of Nations, the precursor of the United Nations. Their ideology, under the influence of the German philosopher Nietzsche, developed a moral code where strength was admirable and that might was always right. Because the Nazi’s worshipped worshiped power and strength they admired war and they even believed that war was a positive good and necessary for the good of the nation.<ref>Paxton, p. 117.</ref> The believed that a nation’s greatness was determined by its military strength. As Hitler put these ideas into practice he brought Europe to the brink of war.

Nazi ideology demanded that Germany take seize the land it need needed to become a powerful nation. It also required that all Germans be united in the Third Reich. This led the Nazi government to embark on a policy of expansion and this included recovering lands lost to the French, Czechs and Poles. Beginning in 1936 the German army had reoccupied the Rhineland in defiance of international law and the Versailles Treaty.<ref>Young, Robert (1996). ''France and the Origins of the Second World War'', New York : St. Martin's Press, p. 78.</ref> Nazi Germany then engineered a unification between it and Austria, in what was known as the Anschluss. Hitler and the Nazi’s then turned their attention to Czechoslovakia. There was a large ethnic German population in the Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia and the Nazi’s wanted them to re-join Germany. <ref>Young, p. 111.</ref> Hitler threatened war and Britain and France, who had adopted a policy of appeasement to prevent a war, encouraged the Czech’s to give up the Sudetenland. After occupying the Sudetenland, Hitler then occupied the rest of the country, despite the Munich agreement. This became known as the ‘Rape of Czechoslovakia’.<ref>Hillgruber, Andreas (1995). ''Germany and the Two World Wars'', translated by William C. Kirby, Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard University Press, p. 67.</ref> The Nazi ideology meant that territorial expansion and disregard for international treaties was part of government policy. As a result, Hitler adopted an aggressive foreign policy that made war inevitable.