England and Germany After World War I

Paper Summary:

This paper studies the conditions in Europe after World War I, which ultimately led to Second World War. The paper focuses on England and Germany as countries representative of the Allied and Axis powers. The paper begins by examining the Weimar Republic of Germany, which had inherent weaknesses that, when combined with economic strife and early political challenges, created a high level of instability. The paper shows how the Nazi Party exploited the Republic's weaknesses. The paper examines in detail Hitler's rise to power, and the culminating impact of world events. Next, the paper turns to Britain, which like Germany was showing signs of great economic stress after World War I. The paper discusses high unemployment coupled with a shrinking export market, which contributed to the downward spiral. The paper also studies the psyche of the British public, which believed that that World War I was the last war -- a belief that was reflected in the government's decision to cut military spending. The paper concludes with an assessment of the U.S.'s Land-Lease program and its positive impact on the economic and military recovery of England.

From the Paper:

"The conditions in countries where many of the Allied forces resided were similar to those of the Axis forces. One country for each of the allied and axis forces whose history following World War II are similar to the other members of each group will be examined. The British are a good representation of the Allied forces and Germany for the Axis, especially in the European theater. What occurred in each of these countries following World War I laid the foundation for what were to follow in World War II. Each holds some very interesting events, which set into motion what would occur in the future. Mussolini first coined the term "Axis" in a speech he gave in Milan, Italy on November 1, 1936. In this speech, he referred to the Rome/Berlin alliance as an Axis in which all European countries would revolve around. This alliance, however, was a result of forced isolation from the rest of Europe, rather than a sincere Italo-German partnership of mutual respect."

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