World War I, Rise of Dictatorship & World War II

In the early 20th century, the major European states were divided into two blocs through treaties of
mutual help against other countries. Thus, Britain, France and Russia had formed one bloc known as
the Triple Entente while Germany, Austria- Hungary and Italy had formed another, known as the
Triple Alliance. There was not only jealousy but also enmity between these two camps.

Causes of the World War I:

1. Rivalry for Colonies/ Division of Europe: By the end of the 19th Century, the colonial powers of
Europe controlled vast overseas territories in South America, South and South-east Asia, Africa
and hundreds of islands in the oceans. Britain had the largest colonial Empire followed by
France, Holland Spain and Portugal. By the beginning of the 20th century, Germany badly
needed a share in the colonial market but the established colonial powers used discriminatory
tariff policies to prevent Germany from doing so. War was the only way left for Germany to
achieve its aim. Thus, colonial ambition of Germany was perhaps the most important cause of
the First World War.
Some other small wars between-
i. France and Italy over possession of Tunis.
ii. France and Germany over Morocco.
iii. Britain and Russia over Persia.
iv. Britain and France over Egypt and Sudan.

And these rivalries finally gave birth to 2 power blocs in Europe i.e., the Triple Entente and
the Triple Alliance.

2. Armament Race: The military and naval armaments of all the great powers begin to grow year
after year because of which there was universal fear, suspicion and hatred among the various
nations.
The naval rivalry between Britain and Germany generated huge public support on each side.
By the start of the first world war, Britain had 49 battleships compared with Germany’s 29
battleships. Along with this all the strong nations were stockpiling huge amounts of arms and
ammunition in order to increase their colonies all over the world whereas the weaker countries
were also stockpiling arms and ammunitions in order to save themselves from the colonial
expansion of the powerful nations. Thus, the arms race had been one of the reasons, which led
to the First World War.
3. Militant nationalism and Imperialism: Each nation under the mighty colonial powers wanted to
free itself from the domination of others and become independent state. There were two big
empires in Europe during the 19th century. During this wave of nationalism Greece, Romania,
Bulgaria and Siberia had become independent. Serbia and Russia supported the cause of those
people who were engaged in a grim struggle to liberate themselves from the foreign
domination.
4. Sarajevo Crisis (Immediate Cause): In June 1914, the Archduke Francis Ferdinand, heir apparent
to the Austrian Throne, went to Sarajevo, the capital province of Bosnia, on an official visit with
his wife Sophie. There, on June 28, 1914, he and his wife were shot dead by a Serbian terrorist
 named Gavrilo Princep at Sarajevo. The Austrians blamed the Serbian government for the
incident and in spite of Serbia’s effort to have a compromise, declared war on Serbia on July 28,
1914.

Entry of USA in World War I: In January 1917, the Germans blew up the American ship carrying war
necessities to Britain and France through there U-Boat submarine, as Germany wanted Britain and
France to be starved to surrender. Thus, USA launched a massive attack against Germany forcing them
to sign the Armistice Treaty in November 1918.

Results of the War:

The Triple Entente group was the winner in the First World War due to the timely help of USA.

Treaty of Versailles:

‘The Big Three’ or the victors of World War i.e., Lloyd George (Britain), Clemenceau (France) and
Woodrow Wilson (The United States) were responsible for shaping the Versailles treaty.

Terms of the Treaty of Versailles:

• The Saar coal mines of Germany were handed over to France for 15 years.
• The province of Alsace- Lorraine was taken back from Germany and given back to France.
• Most of the Polish territories held by Germany were to be given to the New Republic of
Poland.
• The Rhine valley was demilitarized to provide control to the Triple Entente nations, over the
Danzig corridor.
• The German army was restricted and allowed to maintain a force of 1 lakh soldiers only.
• The Navy of Germany was limited to 15000 men and 36 ships but no submarines were allowed
for Germany.
• German Air force was totally banned.
• Germany was imposed with a huge war indemnity of 33 billion dollars, to be paid in partial
reparation.
• Germany also surrendered the areas of Eupen and Malmedy to Belgium.
• It was agreed by all the parties concerned that an international organization called the League
of Nations should be established to prevent future wars.

Territorial Rearrangement after World War I:

• The war destroyed three ruling dynasties of Europe – the Hapsburg in Austria- Hungary, the
Romanov in Russia & the Hohenzollern in Germany.
• The Czarist Dictatorship in Russia came to an end.
• Germany had to surrender large chunks of its territories of Silesia to Poland.
• Germany had to return Alsace and Lorraine to France.
• New states of Romania, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia and Poland came into existence.
Formation of League of Nations: The League of Nations was formed in the year 1920, as an
international peacekeeping body, whose headquarters was at Geneva and Switzerland. Its main
objectives were:

• Maintain international peace and security all over the world.

• Promote international cooperation.
• All the member states should respect each others sovereignty.
• Restrict the member states from maintaining huge armies and making disasters weapons.
• To ensures that member states do not resort to war.
• Settle the disputes between the member nations in a peaceful manner.
• Member states were prohibited from entering into secretly alliances.

The political and economic instability prevailing in countries like Italy and Germany after the first
world war led to the rise of dictatorship in these countries of Europe. In Italy, the form of
dictatorship that arise under Bennito Mussolini was named Fascism while the dictatorship form that
arise in Germany under Adolf Hitler was called Nazism.

Fascism-

The symbol of Fascism is a bundle of rods with a protruding axe, used to symbolize the authority
and power of the ancient Roman Consuls. Fascism can be defined as an intensely nationalistic, anti
-communistic, anti-democratic, and anti- intellectualistic movement.
Nazism-

The symbol of Nazism is a Swastik which represents Germans as the master race or the most
superior race of the humans. Nazism can be better defined as 'Fascism and Racialism’.

Causes for the Rise of Fascism & Nazism:

1. Dissatisfaction over the Treaty of Versailles:
The Treaty of Versailles was a humiliating and unjust treaty for the Germans. Many of the
resource rich territories of Germany were taken away and handed over to the winning countries
of World War 1. Along with this, Germany was imposed with a very heavy war indemnity. The
army and navy of Germany were restricted. The air force and the submarines of Germany were
banned. All these things and many more were the reason for the dissatisfaction of Germany
with the Treaty of Versailles.
On the other hand, although being on the winning side in the World War 1, Italy could not gain
the resource rich territories that it desired for. Thus, Italy was also dissatisfied with the Treaty of
Versailles.
2. Economic Crisis: The devastation in World War I led to economic hardships like poverty,
unemployment, price rise, etc. Industries and trade declined along with agrarian riots and
factory strikes in Italy. But along with the above-mentioned issues, Germany had to face one
more major problem that was the huge war indemnity imposed upon Germany.
3. Unstable Governments: After the world war was over, in both Italy & Germany, democratic
form of government was introduced but most of the time the coalition governments were
formed in both the nations, which continued for very short spans and thus were unable to sort
out the existing problems of both the nations respectively. These governments failed to control
the industrial & agrarian disturbances & as well as failed in sorting out the post- war problems
like unemployment, poverty, price rise, etc. Now the people of these countries wanted to have a
strong government which could control this kind of disorder.
4. Class Conflicts: The rich landlords, industrialist and businessmen supported Hitler and Mussolini
financially to come into power as they wanted these dictators to make the policies of the
government which could always favor the rich capitalist class and not the working class.
5. Charismatic Leaders: Adolf Hitler and Mussolini were people with magnetic personality and
extraordinary political ability. They were great orators and had the capability to easily attract
the people through their inspiring speeches and make them believe in their words and
promises.
In Italy Benito Mussolini was popularly known as the Duce.

The Germans regarded Hitler as their Savior & thus Hitler after coming into power assumed the title of
‘Fuehrer’. “Mein Kampf” is the name of the book written by Adolf Hitler, when he was in prison.

Objectives of Fascism:

1. It was an antithesis of democracy.

2. Supported the notion of ‘one party and one leader’.
3. Favored Totalitarian Rule.
4. Focused on nationalism and individual institutions.
5. Believed that the interest of state must get precedence over individual interests.

Objectives of Nazism:

1. To use force & brutality.

2. To extol war.
3. To exalt nationalism.
4. To despise internationalism, peace and democracy.
5. To uphold racial supremacy of the Germans.
6. To advocate the role by a great leader from a single party.

Similarity between the ideology of fascism and Nazism:

1. Favored totalitarian rule.

2. Against democratic political system.
3. Believed in state supremacy which could suppress fundamental rights and individual freedom.
4. To uphold ‘one party and one leader'.
5. Belief in aggressive nationalism and imperialism.
6. War was regarded as an instrument of national interest.
7. To uphold anti-communist and anti-democratic rule.
Comparative study of Fascism & Nazism:

1. Nazism is considered to be one form of Fascism.

2. Fascism was in existence between 1919 to 1945 while, Nazism became popular between 1933
to 1945.
3. Fascism is originally referred to the fascists of Italy under Mussolini while, Nazism is an
ideological concept of Nazi party of Hitler.
4. Fascism believes in the ‘corporatism’ of all elements in the society to form an organic state while
Nazism emphasized on Racism.
5. Fascism gave more importance to the state while Nazism considered ‘Aryanism' as more
important.

Causes for the World War II to start:

1. Dissatisfaction over the Treaty of Versailles: The Treaty of Versailles was a humiliating and
unjust treaty for the Germans. Many of the resource rich territories of Germany were taken
away and handed over to the winning countries of World War 1. Along with this Germany was
imposed with a very heavy war indemnity. The army and navy of Germany were restricted. The
air force and the submarines of Germany were banned. All these things and many more were
the reason for the dissatisfaction of Germany with the Treaty of Versailles.
On the other hand, although being on the winning side in the World War 1, Italy could not gain
the resource rich territories that it desired for. Thus, Italy was also dissatisfied with the Treaty of
Versailles.
2. Rise of Fascism & Nazism: Because of the dissatisfaction with the Treaty of Versailles and the
post-war economic situation of Italy along with the unstable democratic governments being
formed in Italy, the Fascists under Mussolini were allowed to form the dictatorship government.
As, Mussolini believed in expansionist policy thus, Italy became a part of the Rome-Berlin-Tokyo
Axis. Later, Italy attacked Abyssinia and joined the Second World War.
On the other hand, Nazism dictatorship emerged in Germany under Hitler, who violated the
clause of the Treaty of Versailles and increased the military strength of Germany. Later in 1936
Hitler demilitarized the Rhineland. In 1938, he first annexed Austria and later captured
Sudetenland along with the rest of Czechoslovakia.
3. Policy of Appeasement:
• Britain and France followed the policy of conciliating an aggressive power at the expense of
some other countries towards Germany and Italy.
• They decided to accept the hostile demands of the aggressive nations to gain peace. They knew
that for both Italy and Germany, the Treaty of Versailles was too harsh and if the grievances of
Germany and Italy were removed it would not disturb world peace.
• They also wanted to check the rising tide of Communism and Russian Bolshevism and therefore
allowed Germany to rearm and to remilitarize the Rhineland and capture Austria and
Czechoslovakia.
• Due to this policy of Appeasement, Fascism and Nazism survived for long and thus, were able to
unleash the Second World War.
4. Japanese invasion of China:
• Japan’s ambition rose after the First World War and Japan was now determined to dominate the
Far East. In 1931, Japan invaded Manchuria and occupied it, despite the League's opposition.
Japan also started an undeclared war against China in the same year (1931).
• Japan made alliance with Germany and Italy to form the Berlin- Rome- Tokyo axis. In 1933,
Japan left the League of Nations and started occupying the British and American properties in
China.
• Britain and France felt that this appeasement policy could be used to weaken China and thus,
started following the same. Thus, a war was inevitable.
5. Failure of League of Nations:
• USA, ironically, did not join the league, which proved to be a big blow. Even those who join the
league were not interested in the principles of collective security.
• The League did nothing when Poland, with the backing of France seized a part of Lithuania in
1920.
• In 1923, Italy refused to submit to the League’s intervention and settled disputes with Greece by
direct mediation of Great Britain and France.
• League's authority was flouted by Japan when it seized Manchuria in 1931 and by Italy in 1936,
when it conquered Ethiopia.
• Gradually, the countries of Europe lost faith in League’s usefulness as it failed to maintain
international peace.
• League of Nations did not have a military force at its disposal.
6. Hitler’s invasion of Poland (Immediate Cause):
• Germany lost its ports city of Danzig, which was given to Poland as a part of the Treaty of
Versailles. The city was mainly inhabited by Germans. Poland was accused of committing
atrocities against Germans living there.
• On 1st September, 1939 the German army marched into Poland. France and Britain gave an
ultimatum to Germany. In reply Germany attacked France. On 3rd September, 1939, Britain and
France declared war against Germany. Thus, this invasion of Poland marked the beginning of the
Second World War.

Reason for the entry of USA in the Second World War: Initially, America was not directly
participating in the Second World War. They were supporting the Allied powers with finance, arms
and ammunitions. Being on the side of Axis power, Japan decided to attack the American naval base
of Pearl Harbour in the Hawaii Islands on 7th December, 1941. On the orders of Japanese Premier
General Tojo, a surprise aerial attack was done on the Pearl Harbour. Huge number of American
battleships were sunk and the important airfields were destroyed. But the Japanese made few
mistakes as they did not destroy the ship repair facilities at the base and nor did they seek out and
destroy the US carriers. As a result, on 8th December, 1941, The USA joined the Second World War
against the axis power.

Hiroshima & Nagasaki Bombings: To take the revenge of the attack on the Pearl Harbour, the
American navy and air force destroyed the Japanese fleet to force the Japanese government to
surrender. But as a counter-attack, the Japanese ‘Kamikaze’ steered an explosive- laden plane into
the deck of an American ship. Now USA was confident to force the Japanese government to
surrender anyhow and it was decided by the US government to use the nuclear bombs on Japan. On
August 6th 1945 the first atomic bomb ‘A Little Boy' was dropped on Hiroshima. Still when the
Japanese did not surrender, then 3 days later on 9th of August 1945 another atomic bomb ‘A Fat
Man' was dropped on Nagasaki. Thus, on 2nd of September 1945, Japan surrendered to USA
unconditionally.

Consequences of World War II:

1. Defeat of Axis Powers: In September 1943, the allied forces first forced Italy to make an
unconditional surrender and sign an armistice. In May 1945, Germany was also defeated and
Hitler committed suicide. And finally with the defeat of Japan in the Second World War, the
second world war came to an end and the victors of the Second World War were the Allied
Powers whereas, the Axis Powers were defeated.

2. Formation of United Nations: The death and devastation that was witnessed during the first
two world wars and the use of the disastrous nuclear weapons at the end of the Second World
War created a sense of immense fear within the mankind. The countries all over the world
wanted to create an organization which would work for the establishment of peace and fulfill its
responsibilities in a sincere & professional manner. Thus, on 24th of October 1945, the United
Nations Organization was established.

3. Cold War (1945- 1991): At the end of world war 2, there were two superpowers in the world -
USA and USSR. Many countries aligned themselves under USA while many other aligned
themselves under USSR. The American group was called as the Capitalist Bloc while the USSR
group was called as the Communist Bloc. Cold War was the post- World War 2 situation, in
which there was a lot of tension between the two super powers of that time i.e., USA and
USSR. The global atmosphere was filled with fear, tension, suspicion, doubts and hatred
towards each other but fortunately for the mankind, there was no practical war fought. The
foundation was conducive for a new World War to erupt at any moment of time. Cold War
continued from 1945 to 1991 and ended with the dissolution of USSR.