Two key issues, which Hitler presented in his book 'Mein Kampf' (My Struggle), were those of 'Lebenstruam' (Living Space) and his desire for a European war. Hitler made no secret of his views in his book, which he wrote while in jail in the 1920's. It could be argued that with this publication Hitler made his views and plans perfectly clear. If this is so it just highlights the stupidity of the allies' policy of appeasement as Hitler had already declared that wanted war. The issue of Lebenstruam could be argued against with the view that Hitler only wanted to re-establish German rule over German speaking areas which had been taken from

In March 1938 Hitler went one step closer to war in Europe when he incorporated the Sudentenland area of Czechoslovakia into the Reich. Again Hitler used the pretext that he wanted to unify all German speakers in one country. This was quite a valid excuse as around 80% of the inhabitants of the Sudentenland were German speakers. The incorporation did have its advantages for Hitler. He gained all of the Czechoslovakia's defences and the Skoda arms factory. Britain and France again refused to do anything following their policy of appeasement. It could be argued that Hitler did not do anything wrong as he was only uniting German speakers and he was given the Sudentenland by the allies at the Munich Conference.

The allies declared war after the German invasion of Poland in September 1939. In conclusion it could be argued that Hitler was completely to blame for the outbreak of war in Europe in 1939 but we believe that there are a number of key issues which also contributed to the outbreak of war. We also believe that the responsibility should be shared by a number of different parties. The allies should be held partly responsible because of their policy of appeasement, which encouraged Hitler's advance. It could be argued that if the allies had stopped Hitler's re-militerisation of the Rhineland war may never have happened. The soviets should also take some responsibility because of their encouragement of Hitler with the Nazi-Soviet Pact. Overall, although Hitler did not bear sole responsibility, he has to take a major part of the blame. It was largely because of his aggression and desires that war broke out in Europe in 1939.

Hitler's next move was to change the situation in Europe dramatically. He ordered the invasion of the rest of Czechoslovakia in March 1939. Up until this point Hitler had only been concerned about German speaking areas of Europe. This invasion showed Hitler's true aims and his methods of execution. This situation was created by Hitler but the allies policy of appeasement which was buying them time was encouraging Hitler's advance. The allies saw this as an act of aggression and realised that their policy of appeasement was not working. They pledged to stop Hitler's next advance. This though d

Some topics in this essay:
Czechoslovakia March, Living Space, Poland September, Britain France, Adolf Hitler, Hitler Spanish, Treaty Versailles, AJP Taylor, Nazis Soviets, Versailles Hitler, treaty versailles, policy appeasement, war europe, german speakers, outbreak war, argued hitler, outbreak war europe, war hitler, hitler broke, britain france, civil war, spanish civil war, blame outbreak war, unify german speakers,