There's been some off-topic discussion in other threads, and it's a topic of mild interest to me, so I thought I'd give it a thread of its own.
Being midway through The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, it seems to me like this:
The proximate cause of World War 2 was Adolf Hitler's will to power. This will to power found expression in--among other things--a narrative of Germany's Legendary Purpose (for want of a better term).
This narrative encompassed a vision of Germany's inevitable great future, its dominating position on the world stage, its entitlement to lebensraum, etc.
Adolf Hitler being who he was, and his vision being what it was, his determination to lead Germany into world war was inevitable, and indeed this is exactly what we saw happen.
But to lead Germany into world war--or any war--Hitler needed the support of the German people. As luck would have it, he emerged at a time when Germany was in a profound economic and political crisis. The dissatisfaction of the German people was high. Furthermore, the punitive (and somewhat revisionist) Treaty of Versailles made for a convenient scapegoat on which to blame Germany's troubles.
Thus, Hitler's vision of a Better Tomorrow for Germany resonated deeply with Germans living in a crapsack world; Germans who yearned for something better. Germany's Legendary Purpose, said Hitler, meant that Germans deserved something better, and that Germans had been picked by Destiny to go out and get it, the lesser races of the world be damned.
In this way, having emerged during a time of trouble, and by exploiting the Treaty of Versailles to blame that trouble on outside forces, Hitler was able to gain the support of the people of Germany, which was necessary for his rise to power and the advent of World War 2.
Thus, to the extent that the terms of the Treaty of Versailles really were punitive, and really did contribute to Germany's troubles, it was one of the major "causes" of world war 2. Had Germany been more prosperous, or at least less burdened by obligations imposed by the victors of the Great War, Adolf Hitler might have risen and fallen without remark.
Though, in that case, World War 2 would probably have been fought between Europe and the Soviet Union, and the little corporal might have emerged to lead Germany in such a dark time, probably with similiar results. Instead of Nazi Germany defeated and the Soviet Union reaping Eastern Europe, it might have been the Soviet Union defeated and Nazi Germany reaping Eastern Europe. Looking back now, I'm not sure which would have been the lesser evil.
Being midway through The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, it seems to me like this:
The proximate cause of World War 2 was Adolf Hitler's will to power. This will to power found expression in--among other things--a narrative of Germany's Legendary Purpose (for want of a better term).
This narrative encompassed a vision of Germany's inevitable great future, its dominating position on the world stage, its entitlement to lebensraum, etc.
Adolf Hitler being who he was, and his vision being what it was, his determination to lead Germany into world war was inevitable, and indeed this is exactly what we saw happen.
But to lead Germany into world war--or any war--Hitler needed the support of the German people. As luck would have it, he emerged at a time when Germany was in a profound economic and political crisis. The dissatisfaction of the German people was high. Furthermore, the punitive (and somewhat revisionist) Treaty of Versailles made for a convenient scapegoat on which to blame Germany's troubles.
Thus, Hitler's vision of a Better Tomorrow for Germany resonated deeply with Germans living in a crapsack world; Germans who yearned for something better. Germany's Legendary Purpose, said Hitler, meant that Germans deserved something better, and that Germans had been picked by Destiny to go out and get it, the lesser races of the world be damned.
In this way, having emerged during a time of trouble, and by exploiting the Treaty of Versailles to blame that trouble on outside forces, Hitler was able to gain the support of the people of Germany, which was necessary for his rise to power and the advent of World War 2.
Thus, to the extent that the terms of the Treaty of Versailles really were punitive, and really did contribute to Germany's troubles, it was one of the major "causes" of world war 2. Had Germany been more prosperous, or at least less burdened by obligations imposed by the victors of the Great War, Adolf Hitler might have risen and fallen without remark.
Though, in that case, World War 2 would probably have been fought between Europe and the Soviet Union, and the little corporal might have emerged to lead Germany in such a dark time, probably with similiar results. Instead of Nazi Germany defeated and the Soviet Union reaping Eastern Europe, it might have been the Soviet Union defeated and Nazi Germany reaping Eastern Europe. Looking back now, I'm not sure which would have been the lesser evil.
via JREF Forum http://ift.tt/1jd0Ndd
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