Events preceding World War II in Europe

The events preceding World War II in Europe are closely tied to the bellicosity of Fascist Italy, Nazi Germany, and Imperial Japan, as well as the Great Depression. The peace movement led to appeasement and disarmament. Aftermath of World War I World War II is generally viewed as having its roots in the aftermath of World War I, in which the German Empire under Wilhelm II, with its Central Powers, was defeated, chiefly by the United Kingdom, France, and the United States. The victors blamed Germany entirely for the war and all resulting damages; it was Germany that effectively started the war with an attack on France through Belgium. France had, in 1871, suffered a defeat in the Franco-Prussian War, and demanded compensation for financial devastation during the First World War, which ensured that the various peace treaties, specifically the Treaty of Versailles would impose tough financial war reparations and restrictions on Germany in the aftermath of World War I. The dissolution of Austria-Hungary and the revolutions of 1917–1923 at the end of the First World War also resulted in the formation of numerous new nation-states such as the Second Polish Republic, the First Czechoslovak Republic, and the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in Central and Eastern Europe. Germany was forced to make territorial cessions to these new countries, giving part of its eastern territories of Poznań, West Prussia, and Upper Silesia to Poland. It was also prohibited from merging with the Republic of German-Austria formed from the former German-speaking regions of Austria-Hungary. The treaty ceded Alsace–Lorraine to the French Third Republic, Eupen-Malmedy to Belgium, Northern Schleswig to Denmark, Hultschin District to Czechoslovakia, and allowed the Saarland to be occupied as a League of Nations territory. German irredentists refused to recognize the legitimacy of the new Central and Eastern European nation states, and demanded the return of Germany's lost territory. The total defeat of the Imperial German Armed Forces had been unexpected due to censorship of German defeats.

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Concepts associés (7)

Causes de la Seconde Guerre mondiale

Les causes de la Seconde Guerre mondiale sont un ensemble de facteurs que les historiens analysent comme ayant influencé le déroulement des événements en faveur d'un conflit armé, entraînant ainsi le déclenchement de la Seconde Guerre mondiale. Ces causes peuvent être profondes et anciennes, ou des épiphénomènes ponctuels, et leur influence est l'objet de débats au sein de la communauté des historiens.

Entre-deux-guerres

L'entre-deux-guerres est la période comprise entre la fin de la Première Guerre mondiale, en novembre 1918, et le début de la Seconde Guerre mondiale, en septembre 1939. L'expression est utilisée dès la défaite de 1940. Ces vingt et une années sont marquées par un bouleversement durable des rapports de force internationaux, après l'effondrement des anciens empires allemand, autrichien, russe et ottoman, l'acquisition du statut de première puissance économique mondiale par les États-Unis et la création de l'URSS (après la Guerre civile russe).