Aftermath of WWI Leads to WWII
Prior to the First World War, Europe was the world center of industry and capital. Massive death, destruction, and resentment after World War I left most countries unable to recover to a normal existence and damaged the world economy. The economic collapse and the political instability caused by World War I eventually led to the rise of fascism in Europe. Forceful dictators in Italy, Germany, and Japan took advantage of these problems to seize power by territorial expansion. These events caused a major repositioning of world power and influence. This paper traces a variety of significant factors and forces that contributed to the outbreak of World War II. The Treaty of Versailles aided in the outbreak of …show more content…

As a result of violence, Benito Mussolini and other veterans formed a strong nationalistic group called the National Fascist Party. Soon the Fascists became powerful and popular as Mussolini, leader of the Fascists, knew how to bring their country into order and raised the spirits of the Italians. Mussonli became a dictator in 1922, promising the Italian people glory, order, and greatness. He intended to invade Ethiopia, making it a part of his second Roman Empire. Many Italians believed that Mussolini could create a nation as great as the famous Roman Empire. Another cause of World War II was the failure of the League of Nations in its primary objective—to avoid any future world war. At the end of World War I, the victorious nations formed the League of Nations to promote national security and international peace. However, Germany, Italy, Japan, with individual reasons and interests decided they had the right to conquer new territories with aggressive actions which prevented the League from working effectively. These countries were anxious to regain or increase their power eventually adopted forms of dictatorship. In the 1930s there was a world-wide economic depression. In the hopes of expanding its natural resources and more land, Japan invaded Manchuria in 1931, with plans to conquer much more land through the Asian mainland. The Japanese occupied most of eastern China by