⛓️ How Did All the Causes Connect to Produce War in September 1939?
The outbreak of war in 1939 was the result of multiple long-term and short-term causes coming together. AQA examiners expect you to explain HOW these causes connected — not just list them. This chain shows how each factor fed into the next.
Long-term cause: Versailles created the conditions (1919) — The Treaty's harsh terms (13% territory lost, £6.6 billion reparations, "war guilt" clause) created massive German resentment that Hitler was able to exploit. Without the grievances of Versailles, Hitler's extreme nationalist message would not have had mass appeal. The war of 1939 had roots in the peace of 1919.
Long-term cause: The failure of collective security left aggression unchecked (1931–38) — The League's failures over Manchuria (1931) and Abyssinia (1935) proved that the international system for preventing aggression did not work. Hitler watched both crises and concluded that Britain and France were unwilling to risk war to enforce international law. This directly encouraged his own aggression.
Medium-term cause: Appeasement convinced Hitler he could keep pushing (1936–38) — Each capitulation — Rhineland (1936), Anschluss (1938), Munich (1938) — reinforced Hitler's belief that the democracies would always back down. Munich was the high point: Britain and France handed Hitler a strategic prize without him firing a single shot. He concluded the same would happen over Poland.
Short-term cause: Prague (March 1939) ended appeasement but could not deter Hitler — When Hitler seized the non-German rump of Czechoslovakia, Chamberlain finally abandoned appeasement and issued guarantees to Poland. But Hitler did not believe Britain would honour them — his entire experience of British foreign policy since 1936 told him they would back down again. This miscalculation was fatal.
Short-term cause: The Nazi-Soviet Pact removed the last obstacle (August 1939) — Hitler's one remaining fear was a two-front war — fighting Britain and France in the west while the USSR attacked from the east. The Nazi-Soviet Pact, signed 23 August 1939, eliminated this risk. Stalin agreed not to attack Germany in return for eastern Poland and the Baltic states. Hitler was now free to invade Poland without fearing encirclement.
TURNING POINT: Britain and France Declare War (3 September 1939) — When Germany invaded Poland on 1 September 1939, Hitler expected another climb-down. He was wrong. At 11:15am on 3 September, Chamberlain told the British nation: "this country is at war with Germany." France followed hours later. For the first time since 1936, Hitler's aggression had been met with resistance rather than concession. The policy of appeasement was over. Six years of capitulations had finally ended — but only after they had given Hitler the strongest Germany in history.
= Hitler's fatal miscalculation triggered the war (September 1939) — Hitler invaded Poland on 1 September 1939 expecting Britain and France to issue another protest but ultimately back down, as they had over the Rhineland, Anschluss, and Sudetenland. He was catastrophically wrong. Britain declared war on 3 September 1939, France on the same day. The Second World War had begun — not because Hitler planned a world war, but because he fatally misread the limits of British patience.
