Causes In the beginning of the war, with Great Britain and France opposing Germany and with Italy remaining temporarily neutral and later joining Germany, the line-up of the two sides in both world wars was similar. The notable difference was that Japan aligned with Germany instead of with the Western powers. Russia and the USA did not enter the conflict until two years after it began. The methods of warfare had changed during the Second World War.
Trench warfare gave way to aerial bombing. No distinction was made between combatants and civilians in the Second World War. Casualties in the Second World War were therefore heavy. Let us first trace the circumstances that led to the outbreak of the War.
(a) The Unjust Nature of the Peace Treaty The terms imposed upon Germany at the end of First World War were harsh. Stripped off its colonies, the size of the German army was drastically reduced. Germany was forced to cede Outbreak of World War II and its Impact in Colonies Alsace and Lorraine to France and to agree to the temporary occupation by French troops of the Saar valley. Germany was also compelled to hand over to Poland large parts of the industrial area of Silesia.
Further Germany was to pay an impossible sum ( million pounds) in reparation. These terms gave rise to a strong feeling of injustice in Germany and had much do with the subsequent success of the Nazi Politics. Italy felt aggrieved as Dalmatia, claimed to be predominantly Italian, was incorporated in the new state of Yugoslavia. Reduced to the status of a small republic, Austria was not allowed to unite with Germany as the combination would be a threat to France.
(b) Failure of the League of Nations The League of Nations, envisaged as an international body to avert another world war, turned out to be an alliance of the victors against the vanquished. The seeds for another war were sowed ever since the Treaty of Versailles was signed. From to a