World War 1

When World War I came to a close in mid-November of 1918, many ideas were circulating in Europe as to what the peace settlement should entail. In Britain, leaders were thinking about how to increase British colonial power. In France, many wanted to permanently punish the Germans, partly in revenge for Germany's aggression in World War I, but also, perhaps subliminally, for the Franco-Prussian war in 1871. In Germany, citizens were worried about how radical changes after …

…championed by British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain. Hitler and Germany were able to take over the Rhineland, the Saarland, the Sudetenland, (which had been given to the nation of Czechoslovakia by the peace settlements) and unify with Austria with the League left only to watch. Finally, on the 1st of September 1939, just 20 years after the end of World War I, Hitler invaded Poland. The Treaty of Versailles had failed; Europe was once again at war.