<p>What's your guys' opinion on whether FDR was to blame for the start of World War II?</p>
<p>The Treaty of Versailles was to blame for WWII. WWI was to blame. Hitler was to blame. Japan was to blame.</p>
<p>FDR was NOT to blame, it was totally out of his control.</p>
<p>FDR had nothing to do with starting WWII - he just prepared America to enter it because he knew that it would be inevitable.</p>
<p>And thus was more responsible for the end of WWII.</p>
<p>You could argue that, even though Truman had direct responsibility for ending the war. But FDR still had a lot to do with it.</p>
<p>The Treaty of Versailles was an “unfair” treaty which set up the scene for WWII. Instead of making progress and improvement, Germany was put into a never ending cycle of debt. Germany’s economic, political, and social mood were bad.</p>
<p>The League of Nations had no real power</p>
<p>Mussolini became dictator</p>
<p>Hitler… obviously</p>
<p>The question is WHY Hitler invaded Poland. Many people think it’s because of the tension created by the WWI treaties/aftermath.</p>
<p>Didn’t he invade Poland because (1) he wanted to eventually control the world, Third Reich, etc, and (2) having Poland would bring him closer to Russia so his blitzkrieg would be more effective against taking them out whenever he decided to go to war against them?</p>
<p>Just to add on to the previous post, even though it is off-topic, Hitler wanted “lebensraum” (living space) for his people: the Germans, the Aryans specifically. Poland would allow him to get this.</p>
<p>That’s correct; his aim was to exterminate the Poles (which was a bigger part of his “master race” plan than exterminating any other group). First, he would kill most and enslave the rest. The Poles would be working slaves, until “master race” society no longer needed them, at which point they would all be done away with. Poland was just to be new real estate for Germans.</p>
<p>^Um, no, the biggest part was exterminating the Jews.</p>
<p>Are you kidding?</p>
<p>The biggest part *enacted<a href=“by%20way%20of%20#%20dead”>/I</a> was exterminating the Jews. That doesn’t mean his plan didn’t call for bigger things. Read some of the secret documents dug up after Berlin was captured.</p>
<p>The Treaty of Versailles set the stage for Hitler and World War II by screwing over Germany.</p>
<p>In the Weimar Republic, you would need a cartload of money for a loaf of bread.</p>