The Causes of World War II: From Pearl Harbor to the Fall of Berlin (part I)

The tension-filled process we have traced step by step up to this point, economic depressions, collapsing peace treaties, and rising totalitarian regimes, has finally reached a point of no return; a new and profoundly dark curtain is now rising on the stage of history. The suffocating tension previously felt only at diplomatic tables and rally squares is about to be replaced by the roar of artillery on the front lines, ruined cities, and total destruction that will alter the fate of millions. If you are ready, we are embarking on a journey into the bloody trenches of World War II, the greatest catastrophe human history has ever witnessed, and the massive turning point that would change the world forever.

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The Causes of World War II: The Collapse of Peace

The fragile peace order established after World War I actually carried the very seeds of a new, much larger conflict within itself. The primary cause of this catastrophe, which dragged the world into total destruction, was Germany’s absolute desire to tear up the Treaty of Versailles and expand its borders under the objective of “Lebensraum” (Living Space). This was compounded by the aggressive policies of fascist Italy, frustrated by its lack of territorial gains despite being a WWI victor, and Japan’s imperialist ambition to expand its colonial territories and become the absolute power in the Pacific.

Meanwhile, as the new borders drawn at the Paris Peace Conference entirely ignored nationalism and ethnic realities, causing endless minority crises across Europe, the League of Nations, founded to protect global peace, turned into a mere paper tiger. The League stood by helplessly as Japan invaded Manchuria, Italy occupied Abyssinia, and Germany remilitarized the Rhineland. On top of all this tension, Germany and Italy's involvement in the Spanish Civil War, where they supported the fascist General Franco to ruthlessly test their new weapons on civilians just before the Great War, officially unleashed the inevitable and bloody storm of World War II.

The League of Nations in Geneva, Switzerland (1930)

Germany’s Expansionist Moves

Hitler’s Germany completely tore up the military restrictions imposed by the Treaty of Versailles and subsequently put into action his strategy of uniting all German-speaking populations under a single state. In line with this, Germany annexed Austria without firing a single shot on March 12, 1938, and immediately turned its sights toward Czechoslovakia’s Sudetenland. Due to the concessive “policy of appeasement” pursued by Britain and France out of fear of a new war, the Sudetenland was practically handed to Germany on a silver platter through the Munich Agreement on September 29, 1938, a conference where Czechoslovakia was not even represented. Following these audacious moves, the German government began pressuring Poland over the Danzig region, the last remaining dispute, and ultimately secured its eastern flank before the great Western assault by signing a shocking Non-Aggression Pact with the Soviet Union on August 24, 1939, removing the final diplomatic obstacle to war.

Italy and the Formation of the Axis

Meanwhile, pursuing aggressive expansionism in the Mediterranean basin, Mussolini’s Italy completely abolished all democratic practices at home and enforced a policy of forced Italianization upon other ethnic groups. Directing its foreign policy entirely toward colonization and declaring the Mediterranean as “Our Sea” (Mare Nostrum), just as in Ancient Rome, Mussolini began to advance rapidly across North Africa and the Balkans. Moving closer to Germany through the shared ground of totalitarian and fascist ideology, Italy joined the Anti-Comintern Pact with an agreement signed in Rome on November 6, 1937. With Italy’s critical participation, the “Berlin-Rome-Tokyo Axis”, the most destructive and bloody alliance block in world history, was officially established, completing the military tripod of the approaching global catastrophe.

Benito Mussolini inspecting troops during the Italo-Ethiopian War, 1935

Japan and the Anti-Comintern Pact

Having taken over Germany's colonies in Asia after WWI, Japan was in search of new territories and raw materials to feed its rapidly industrializing and growing economy. Setting its sights on China, Japan invaded Manchuria in 1931 and declared all-out war on China in 1937. Just as in Europe, the League of Nations failed to take any concrete steps against this bloody occupation in the Far East and merely acted as a bystander.

Japan's unstoppable rise in Asia profoundly disturbed the United States, which had interests in the region, and the Soviet Union, a border neighbour. Just as Germany felt squeezed between France and the USSR in Europe, Japan felt trapped under the pressure of the US and the USSR in the Pacific. Wishing to dismantle the current world order (status quo), these two nations found common ground by designating the “communist” threat as their mutual enemy. With the Anti-Comintern Pact signed in Berlin on November 25, 1936, the “Berlin-Tokyo Axis” was established, thereby uniting the expansionist powers of Asia and Europe on the same front.

Chinese soldiers battle the Imperial Japanese Army in Taierzhuang, 1938

Britain, France, and the “Policy of Appeasement”

Britain and France were experiencing an incredible diplomatic blindness. The British Prime Minister of the time, Neville Chamberlain, would go down in history as the “Policy of Appeasement.” Chamberlain believed that if minor concessions (such as the Sudetenland) were given to Hitler, he would stop and be satisfied with what he had. He even hoped that Germany could serve as a shield against the Soviet Union.

Although France had formed alliances with Czechoslovakia in 1924 and the Soviet Union in 1935, it did not dare to act alone without Britain. Therefore, France was forced to follow its ally Britain's lead and support this passive appeasement policy.

The pinnacle of this fatal policy was the Munich Agreement of September 29, 1938, where Czechoslovakia’s Sudetenland was handed to Germany on a silver platter. However, the West’s hopes were soon to be buried in the rubble. On March 15, 1939, when Germany invaded the rest of Czechoslovakia, where not a single German lived, Chamberlain faced the bitter truth. Declaring the complete bankruptcy of the appeasement policy to the world, Britain urgently gave border guarantees to Poland and began serious war preparations. However, the price for those years wasted at the peace table trying to stop fascism would now be paid with millions of lives on the battlefield.

Winston Churchill, British Prime Minister, in 1941. Photograph by Karsh of Ottawa

The USSR

Hitler’s refusal to settle for the Munich Agreement, drove Western democracies into a panic. To stop this fascist advance, Britain and France sought a triple alliance with the Soviet Union (USSR). However, the ideological abyss and lack of trust between the West and the Soviets prevented this alliance from materializing.

While the West was wasting time at the table, Hitler had already made his move. On August 23, 1939, news broke that shocked the entire world: two sworn enemies, Germany and the Soviet Union, had signed a 10-year “Non-Aggression Pact.” The visible clauses of this pact were highly explicit:

• The two states would refrain from any aggressive actions against each other.
• If one party were attacked by a third state, the other would absolutely not support that third state.
• Neither would join any state grouping directed against the other, and they would remain in constant contact regarding mutual interests.

However, the true meaning of this pact was much darker: Germany had secured its eastern border (the neutrality of the USSR). Now, there were no diplomatic obstacles left for Hitler to crush Poland and officially start the war.

Pearl Harbor on October 30, 1941, a month prior to the attack, with Ford Island visible

The Awakening of the Sleeping Giant: The USA Enters the War

While Europe was in flames, the United States initially avoided entering the war directly. Instead, it took on the role of the “Arsenal of Democracy,” providing massive amounts of weapons and ammunition aid to France and, most notably, Britain.

However, the fate of the war was completely altered by an unexpected blow from the Pacific. Seeking to break the US oil embargo and remain unrivalled in the Pacific, Japan launched a devastating surprise attack on the US naval base at Pearl Harbor on the morning of December 7, 1941. This sudden and staggering assault broke the American public's resistance to war overnight, and the US officially entered the conflict with all its military and industrial might. With the world's largest industrial giant joining the Allies, the tide of the war changed fundamentally; Germany, which had only attacked and expanded until that day, was slowly forced into a defensive posture, trying merely to protect its existing borders. 

We will follow the war itself, the turning points, the fallen cities, and the decisions that would determine which world would emerge from the ruins. See you in the next part!