Year 9 NSW » History » Australia and World War II » Why did Australia become involved?

Topic : Why did Australia become involved?

In this topic you will learn...

Chapter 1 : The European background

The causes of World War II can be seen in the results of World War I, particularly in the harsh terms imposed upon Germany by the Treaty of Versailles signed in 1919
The Treaty of Versailles forced Germany to surrender territory that she had acquired during World War I, pay an excessive amount of reparations, and accept full responsibility for starting the war
The terms of the Treaty of Versailles caused great discontent among the German citizens and this discontent drove Hitler's rise to power in the early 1930s
In the 1920s, Germany was governed by the Weimar Republic
The Weimar Period saw many economic problems, culminating in the Great Depression in 1929
The incompetence of the Weimar government caused German citizens to look to extremist parties for leadership, including Hitler and the Nazi party
Hitler was initially not taken seriously by the politicians of the Weimar Republic however, through elections and legitimate campaigning, he won the majority vote in 1932
Hitler manipulated the burning of the Reichstag on February 27 1933 to assume emergency powers
With his emergency powers, he was able to alter the constitution and abolish the Weimar government, establishing the Third Reich (empire) by August

Chapter 2 : The build up to World War II

Chapter 3 : The Australian response

Chapter 4 : The Pacific background

Topic Summary

Audio Summary

Play | Download

Text Summary

This topic includes

ToolBox