My Possible Theory for a Main Cause of WW2: It was America's Fault

[AesronDrosseli]

Okay... Before I begin, I must let you people know that I am not here to go and bash countries/peoples up. I also do know that in history, all events have multiple causes and as such, no one thing can be said to have caused another. But this theory here... This was something which I thought of around a year ago..

Just tell me what you think about it, hmm?

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Now… Many causes have been put forth for World War 2 (WW2) but here's one which I don't think many people have ever thought of. It was, strangely enough, the fault of the Americans…
The 1920s were a time of general prosperity for the US, and towards the end of that decade, the stock market ballooned. It rose and rose and rose like the iconic skyscrapers of the period. However, as the decade started to come to a close, people started wondering, "When will it all end disastrously?" And this, ironically enough, was a self-fulfilling prophecy. In a mass panic, people started selling millions of shares which ended in the Wall Street Crash and the Great Depression.
This, of course, had many far-reaching effects on the rest of the world as America had, by that time, become the market of the world. Now, Germany and Japan were heavily dependent on America, especially Germany as it was America that had pumped millions into Germany’s economy to help it recover from the devastating effects of World War 1 (WW1). The political atmosphere in Germany was already quite tense as the Germans deeply resented the government for accepting the blame for WW1. Resentment was buried when Germany prospered in the 1920s, but this resentment was dug up by extremists (such as our super-villain Hitler) to help them gain power when Germany felt the destructive effects of the Great Depression. This situation was mirrored in Japan, where extreme nationalists took over the reins of the government to build Japan up “their way”, which so happened to include total domination of the Asia-Pacific region.
Thus began the reign of terror which began with the invasion of China by the Japanese and the rise of Nazism in Germany followed by the “oh, this land already belongs to us, so we’ll take it back and perhaps the rest of Europe along with it” mindset of Aryan-Supremacy-Crazy Hitler. This, of course, resulted in the horror known as WW2.
But actually, to be fair, it wasn’t exactly the Americans’ faults. It was actually human stupidity which caused the Great Depression which caused WW2. So why, I ask, are we blaming the Japanese and the Germans?
Oh well, as they say, "History is written by the victors."

 

[Tee Kay]

So I guess you're blaming the Great Depression then, not "America", which is a pretty sound argument.

 

[AesronDrosseli]

So I guess you're blaming the Great Depression then, not "America", which is a pretty sound argument.

Heh, but then again... If you were to look at it in a certain angle.. Which country caused the Great Depression?

 

[Azale]

Heh, but then again... If you were to look at it in a certain angle.. Which country caused the Great Depression?

Well shame on the USA for being so important

 

[Traitorfish]

Well shame on the USA for being so important

Yes, when will they learn? If only they'd stayed a backwater colony!

 

[citedon]

I understand where you are coming from with your theory. You ask the question, " So why, I ask, are we blaming the Japanese and the Germans?" My answer to that is that most civilized nations don't react to economic crisis by invading their neighbors.

 

[Perfection]

The main cause of WWII was the big bang.

 

[EnlightenmentHK]

But actually, to be fair, it wasn’t exactly the Americans’ faults. It was actually human stupidity which caused the Great Depression which caused WW2. So why, I ask, are we blaming the Japanese and the Germans?

Because while harsh times may make peoples more susceptible to extreme influences, noone forced them to start goose-stepping and shooting Jews. Or raping, murdering and pillaging China. You don't get to throw your hands up and say 'Not my fault, outside socio-economic forces!' Such explorations exist to help us understand how and why certain shifts happen, they're not there to excuse monsters and the citizens who supported them of their culpability.

But if you're looking for outside causes, there's always the old stalwarts, like France and Britain not listening to Wilson and opting to be vindictive pricks with the postwar spoils and reparations. Of course there are other views that the very fact that we left Germany intact was the problem. There was an ongoing delusion during that time period throughout Germany that they hadn't actually been defeated. Perhaps a 10 million allied soldiers storming into Germany, razing cities, and splitting the country in half would've convinced them otherwise.

Than of course there's one of my pet favorites on the cause of the great depression...countries globally returning to the gold standard.
http://www.econbrowser.com/archives/2005/12/the_gold_standa.html

 

[toda]

WWII is W. Wilson's fault because he vetoed the Japanese proposal of racial equality in the Paris Peace Conference which make Japan go on a conquer spree to prove their worth.

 

[Tee Kay]

WWII is W. Wilson's fault because he vetoed the Japanese proposal of racial equality in the Paris Peace Conference which make Japan go on a conquer spree to prove their worth.

Perhaps it's a useful propaganda tool, but the conquest was fueled by the Japanese needs for resources, markets and territory (similar to the German "Lebensraum").

 

[Darth_Pugwash]

Alot of the money America gave to Germany just came right back as reparation payments.

The idea that the Great Depression stirred up resentment in Germany is not a new one, by the way. It's generally accepted that the Depression helped Hitler into power, but lumping all the blame onto Wall Street is a bit silly. There were numerous other causes, eg the Treaty of Versailles.

In a funny kind of way though WW2 really kicked the US economy right out of the Depression, due to all the jobs created by the war in factories or in the military.

 

[REDY]

I think that main american fault was isolationism and lack of interest in world affairs.

 

[caketastydelish]

The main cause of WWII was the big bang.

Win. 10chars

 

[Cheezy the Wiz]

The main cause of WWII was the big bang.

Did that coincidentally happen on September 1, 1939?

 

[plarq]

Did that coincidentally happen on September 1, 1939?

He means that the evolution of the universe is determined in its baby phase--the big bang time. So since it's all determined, WWII is destined to happen, or we are living in a parallel universe.

 

[TheDS]

By that logic, I could kick you in the head and take all your belongings as my own, and you'd have no recourse. It's the Big Bang's fault, it was pre-ordained.

Soooo.................

Where do you live, exactly?



To say that WW2 was caused by the Great Depression, or by Versailles Treaty, or half a dozen other things is to label a contributing factor as a direct cause. No, the cause of WW2 was someone in power abusing that power by using it to attack his neighbors. That's pretty much how all wars start.

Japan was already on a course for disaster before Hitler even came to power, and had started warring in earnest well before 1939, but it didn't become a "world war" until the world-spanning European powers started fighting. Therefore, it's technically Hitler's fault, because otherwise, it would've just been an Asian war, possibly spilling over into America if the Japanese still felt the need to conduct Pearl Harbor, at which point, it becomes the Japanese-American War. Even England and France coming to our aid doesn't make it a world war.

I believe the real question is: without Hitler, would the Germans have lost?

 

[Perfection]

There's a massive confusion of fault and cause here, which really needs to be adressed. The two aren't the same.

If little Jimmy playing with his toy truck makes Billy so jealous (because Billy lacks such a wonderful toy truck) that he takes out his anger by kicking Jethro we can hardly blame Jimmy even though he might have been the cause! The person at fault (and who is going to get the time-out) is Billy. The reason? Fault implies a moral bad actor.

This is a serious oversimplification, but you should get my point, even if America did cause WWII it wouldn't be America's fault.

 

[Taras Bulba]

Heh, but then again... If you were to look at it in a certain angle.. Which country caused the Great Depression?

France and the UK

 

[Sharwood]

WWII was the result of a number of factors, such as the historically recognised resentment in Germany caused by the Treaty of Versailles, economic problems during the depression, Japan and Italy's resentment at not receiving the gains they thought they should, etc., and things that aren't as recognised such as the formation of the USSR throwing the fear of Marx into the 'free world.' Blaming it on one nation or event is short-sighted.