World War I

• Under the Treaty of Versailles, which officially brought an end to World War I, Germany was forced to accept full responsibility for starting the war. The country was stripped of its military. They were allowed only a very small army and navy and no tanks, planes or submarines. Germany also had land taken away and was forbidden from forming any alliances or treaties with their traditional ally Austria. Germany was also forced to pay millions in war reparations, although its own economy had been crippled by the war.
  
  

Economy

• World War I cost Germany $38 billion and nearly 6 million casualties. In the first year after the Treaty of Versailles, Germany made a payment of $2 billion. In the second year of the treaty, Germany was unable to make its payment, and France responded by invading the Ruhr Valley, the heart of German industry. To try to alleviate the strain on the economy, the German government began printing more money. This led to hyper-inflation. By 1923, a loaf of bread, which would have cost less than a single German mark prior to World War I, cost more than 200 marks. German Chancellor Gustav Stresemann managed to get the economy back on track by the late 1920s with tax increases, spending cuts and a reduction in printed currency. Then in 1929, the Great Depression hit, sinking Germany's economy once again.
  
  

Nationalism

• The German people have always been very proud. The Treaty of Versailles and the years of economic hardship were deeply humiliating to them. The Nazi party played on German pride and nationalism, casting Germans as victims and blaming Germany's problems on outsiders including Jews and communists. In Italy and Japan, similar calls to national pride were militarizing the populations. In all three countries, appeals to national pride and promises to restore past glory set the stage for military aggression.
  
  

Appeasement

• By the 1930s, the British and French governments understood that the terms of the Treaty of Versailles had been overly harsh. They believed that Germany had a right to re-arm and that a more powerful Germany would stop the spread of communism from Russia. In September 1938, the Munich Treaty returned the Sudetenland from Czechoslovakia to Germany without involving the Czechs in the discussion. In May 1939, Hitler invaded the rest of Czechoslovakia. British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain referred to it as "a quarrel in a far-away country between people of whom we know nothing." On September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland, and Britain officially declared war on Germany on September 3, 1939. For nearly a decade it would have been possible to stop German military expansion, but it was not done until it was clear that Germany was intent on war.