Were Hitler and Mussolini responsible for WWII?

Answer 1

Yes and No.
The Treaty of Versailles which ended WW1 was too harsh on the German people, who were starving during the 1920s. In 1930 the Japanese invaded an area of China & Russia called Manchuria/Manchukua, and the (equivalent to the UN) League of Nations told the Japanese to get out. Japan told the L. of N. to sod off, and they could do nothing about it. This showed Hitler that the L. of N. was toothless, and probably made him feel more positive about his plans. Also, as another respondent has pointed out, the world really didn't bother about the Spanish Civil War which would only have made Hitler believe that no one would do anything if he started iinvading countries. He dabbled by annexing Austria, then invaded the Sudetenland, both without reprisals, so next he tried Poland. Finally Europe though 'enoughs enough' and the war began.

Answer 2

I guess if you think that WW II just appeared out of nowhere then you could say that Hitler and Mussolini caused it. They were only what you could call the "proximate" cause. That is, they were the guys who wrote the orders in 1939.

But obviously, there were a lot of problems that took a lot longer to develop. You could think of WW II as just the second round of the fight that started in 1914 as WW I. There were a lot of things involved in that.

SOme historians think that the real cause of WW II was the Versailles Treaty that ended WW I in 1919. The French and British imposed big penalties on the Germans, so the German economy was wrecked - conditions were so bad in Germany that people were very upset... the democracy that was set up after WW I couldnt fix the problems so the Nazis got elected and soon began working to build up their forces to fight again.

If the British and French had helped out the Germans after WWI like the Americans did after WW II, then the Germans might have had a good democracy in the 1920s and then Hitler would never have been elected.

So, that question is a lot harder to answer than you might have thought.

Answer 3

I suppose you could say that Hitler and his ambitions to create a new German / Aryan Empire caused WWII and Mussolini being his ally went along with him. It's a little simplistic to say that these 2 men alone were responsible for WWII. The responsibility for WWII rests with many men and nations that failed to solve a number of issues after WWI and then allowed tensions to build until WWII was inevitable.

Answer 4

not entirely, as they could've been stopped.
France and Britain used a policy called the appeasement policy, in which they gave heavy support to Germany and Italy to fend off the USSR (refer: the Spanish Civil War). Had this policy not come to force, they could have been stopped.
Thus, France and Britain did skip the chance to block Hitler and Mussolini, and were also responsible for WW2

Answer 5

well the German aggression to Poland is certainly the last cause of the War... and depended from Hitler's will. Mussolini decided for war a while after... when German Army was invading France. he thought War was to finish soon and wanted to seat at the winner's side...

Answer 6

No. The Great Depression was which was caused by the wealthy in the world.