Writing Assignment #3: Causes of World War II DBQ

Historical Background: The Treaty of Versailles was signed on June 28, 1919 in the hopes that it would stabilize Europe and ensure that another catastrophic war would never happen again, but just over two decades later, the flames of war consumed Europe. While World War II was the result of a number of overlapping causes, some were of especially great importance. Prompt: What were the primary causes of World War II? Directions: Read and annotate (highlight/underline and write comments in the margin) each document. Answer the questions that follow each document. Then, complete the graphic organizer for putting your paragraph together. Lastly write a Step Up to Writing paragraph answering the prompt. You must type your response.

The Documents Document A Source: Excerpt from Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf, 1924

It should scarcely seem questionable to anyone that… the restoration of the frontiers of 1914 could be achieved only by blood. Only childish and naïve minds can lull themselves in the idea that they can bring about a correction of Versailles by wheedling and begging…No nation can remove this hand from its throat except by sword.

1. What did the Germans lose as a result of the Treaty of Versailles? 2. How does Hitler suggest Germans should respond to the Treaty of Versailles? Document B Source: Article 231 of the Treaty of Versailles, which is also known as the War Guilt Clause.

The Allied and Associated Governments affirm, and Germany accepts the responsibility of Germany and her allies for causing all the loss and damage to which the Allied and Associated Governments and their nationals have been subjected as a consequence of the war imposed upon them by aggression of Germany and her allies.

3. What is the main idea of Article 231 of the Treaty of Versailles? 4. How did the War Guilt Clause affect the German economy?

Document C Source: Joseph Goebbels, chief of Nazi propaganda, 1930.

5. What misinformation does Goebbels say about the Jews? 6. How could ideas like this lead to the rise of Fascism and totalitarianism in Germany? Document D Source: Laurence V. Moyer, Victory Must Be Ours: Germany in the Great War 1914-1918, 1995.

7. How did most Germans feel about the Treaty of Versailles? 8. According to historian Laurence Moyer, why did many Germans admire Adolf Hitler?

Document E Source: (Chart and text) Reinhart and Rogoff, “European Debt After the Great War,” Guggenheim Investments, 2012.

9. What country was the most affected by the Great Depression? 10. What different ways did Germany respond to its growing financial difficulties?

Document F Source: Excerpt from Winston Churchill’s speech to the House of Commons on October 5, 1938. This speech was given after the Neville Chamberlain and Adolf Hitler signed the Munich Agreement on September 30, 1938.

I will begin by saying what everybody would like to ignore or forget but which must nevertheless be stated, namely, that we have sustained a total . . . defeat. . . The utmost he [Chamberlain] has been able to gain for Czechoslovakia and in the matters which were in dispute has been that the German dictator, instead of snatching his victuals from the table, has been content to have them served to him course by course. . .

I have always held the view that the maintenance of peace depends upon the accumulation of deterrents against the aggressor, coupled with a sincere effort to redress grievances. . .. After the [German] seizure of Austria in March . . . I ventured to . . . pledge that in conjunction with France and other powers they would guarantee the security of Czechoslovakia while the Sudeten-Deutsch question was being examined either by a League of Nations Commission or some other impartial body, and I still believe that if that course had been followed events would not have fallen into this disastrous state. . .

I venture to think that in the future the Czechoslovak State cannot be maintained as an independent entity. You will find that in a period of time, which may not be measured by years, but may be measured only by months, Czechoslovakia will be engulfed in the Nazi regime. . . We are in the presence of a disaster of the first magnitude which has befallen Great Britain and France. . . This is only the beginning of the reckoning.

11. Why was Winston Churchill critical of Chamberlain’s policy of appeasement? 12. What did Churchill think would happen to Czechoslovakia? Document G Source: Leonard Raven-Hill, “The Gap in the Bridge,” Punch Almanack, 1919

13. What does this cartoon suggest will happen due to the United States not joining the League of Nations?