What was the main reason for WW2 [img]tongue.gif[/img]

Simple question - but no simple answer.

I've always thought that the seeds of WWII were sown at the treaty of Versailles ; leaving the German people simmering with resentment, heightened by the 1929 stock market crash, all of which provided fertile ground for Hitler and his extremist ideas to prosper.

__________________
"Stand by to pull me out of the seat if I get hit" - Guy Gibson

Bloody good question. Hitler's insatiable thirst for new territories. Contrary to WW1 the peoples involved didn't want the war, and there was no enthusiasm about it.

At the end of the day there was no sensible reason for Germany to go to war.

__________________
„Solange man nicht mit dem Kopf unterm Arm rumläuft geht es doch noch!" Erwin Rommel

Thought provoking in the least-

I agree with Martin for the most part. Versailles had few if any good qualities, and set the stage for German-West conflict. Russia wasnt invited, that made them sore. Add to that, Russia became Communist and mistrusted by the west. When Germany became Fascist, war between the two was almost inevitable.

To bring the origin of the conflict down to a precise moment though, is hard. The only one I can think of is the shot gavrillo princip made to kill ferdinand. Or perhaps the Austro-hungarian governments ultimatum. Or perhaps Germanys blank check of support to Austria. Or perhaps the French and British mobilisations. Or perhaps Russias entry into the war for Serbia. Any way you look at it, ww2 was basically a continuation of ww1.

__________________
"If your gonna buy the angel s**t, you might as well go for the zombie package as well."
-George Carlin

It is a quite complicated answer. But I will put it the way I teach it to the silly boys who failed History...

We have the main causes and the secondary ones:

The main causes are:

Triangular-Political-Conflict In Europe there were three political sistems which hated each other; liberalism, communism, totalitarism. We all know that totalitarians think that there are superior beings, therefore, the both remaining ideologies are awful, because they think that everybody is equal. Liberals believe in the liberty of men, therefore the other two political sistems; anti democratic and brutal tirannies are awful. And by last, the communist think that liberalism and totalitarism are in favour of the rich ones and that they exploit the workers, therefore it is awful.
Ultranationalism Totalitarian countries think that their people is the one designed to rule over the others, because it is superior. It becomes clear that this could only be done with blood.
Colonial Conflicts Territory, natural resources, markets, trade, richess, money... Everyone wants to have more of it.

Secondary causes:

The Versailles Treaty It meant a humilliation to Germany, beside taking away her capability of defending herself. It meant the perfect scenary for a regime that wanted revenge to comoe to power.
Alliance-System Forming sides is never good. You are challenging other nations. Axis Berlin-Rome. Alliance Great Britain-France-Poland. Non agression pact Germany-USSR.
Armed-Peace The military competition. The rearming of Germany, France, the UK, Japan and the USSR.

Quite simple, isn't it?

__________________
"War is less costly than servitude, the choice is always between Verdun and Dachau." - Jean Dutourd, French veteran of both world wars

"A mon fils: depuis que tes yeux sont fermes les miens n’ont cessé de pleurir." - Mère française, Verdun

The most important things being mentioned there above I just want to add three things that came to my mind.

Feeling guilty for what they had done to Germany after WW1 the western allied let Hitler go for his demands. In 1938 they should have put an end to that at the latest.Instaed they greeted him with a smile unaware what was coming?

The second is not actually reason for war but reason for German defeat in WW1. At least it has been commented widely that the home front lost the war not the army...Hitler with Goebbels created the propaganda to make sure there would be no such thing to face. And Germany fought until the end.

And three. Hitler´s main aim was "Lebensraum" and German people were taught to being soldiers at all levels and all ages. Germany as a whole was huge war machine.In 1939 Hitler set if off.

__________________

You could go back even farther and say that had Bismarck made more democratic reforms, the first world war and consequently the second would not have happened...at least not with Germany fighting the west. In fact, you could go back to the days that caused Germans to mistrust others; when the Romans attempted to invade their territory. Also consider Germanys geo-political situation. They are in the center of Europe, and all the action thereof.

__________________
"If your gonna buy the angel s**t, you might as well go for the zombie package as well."
-George Carlin

Das Reich is right. We could go back as afr as year 9 b.C. when three whole Roman legions under general Quintilus Varus were anihilated by Germanic forces, trapping them in a forest where they weren't able to form and exploit their tactical superiority. The Roman Empire lost 35.000 experienced Roman soldiers in a day!!! Emperor Augustus never gave green light for an expedition further than the Rhin again. And all the rest of Roman emperors did not authorize them as well. Maybe if Rome would have conquested Germania the Germans wouldn't be so barbaric and savage... Then no ultra-nationalism nor militarism... no WWI amd WWII...

__________________
"War is less costly than servitude, the choice is always between Verdun and Dachau." - Jean Dutourd, French veteran of both world wars

"A mon fils: depuis que tes yeux sont fermes les miens n’ont cessé de pleurir." - Mère française, Verdun