Why did World War II happen? It’s a complicated (and interesting) topic, involving causes in many different nations. Some of these involve Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, while others involve Imperial Japan – which is quite distant from these European nations. This topic has enormous power to explain the events of the twentieth century. Most importantly, it explains World War II itself, the largest war in history. Thus, the BBC undertook to explore the causes of the war. In four episodes, they cover the events that shattered the peace, in a documentary aptly titled “The Road to War.” Incidentally, this documentary is written (and narrated) by the British journalist Charles Wheeler.
Neville Chamberlain
Episode 1: “Great Britain” (the main omissions here are France and Germany)
The first episode is called “Great Britain,” and talks about how both Great Britain and its Nazi opponents got into World War II. One of the surprises for me in this episode was how much time they spent on rearmament, both British and German. On the German side, the rearmament involved the breaking of the Treaty of Versailles, which alarmed some in Britain. But with the slaughter of the last war in mind, the British public was reluctant to do anything about it. Nonetheless, even Stanley Baldwin and Neville Chamberlain were pushing for the British to regain some of their own military strength from the Great War. Britain was still unprepared when the war began, but they were more prepared than they otherwise would have been without these rearmaments. Getting planes for the Royal Air Force (and other military branches) was sold partly as a jobs program, meant to combat the unemployment of the then-ongoing Great Depression. Most Brits didn’t expect that this equipment would ever be used, but were saddened to find that it was indeed needed.
Chamberlain arrives in Munich – September 1938
Much of the rest of the episode is more familiar territory, as they talk about the Germans’ remilitarizing the Rhineland, and annexing Austria (Hitler’s birthplace) in the Anschluss. They then mention Chamberlain trying to appease the Germans by giving them the Sudetenland, as part of the infamous Munich Agreement. Eventually, the Germans got all of Czechoslovakia, and caused the lesser-known Danzig crisis in Poland. Finally, they mention Chamberlain declaring war – on behalf of both the British and the French – when the Germans invaded Poland. (More about that here.) I thought that they could have spent more time on the entry of France into the war, which is something that “The World at War” actually does better. And they failed to interview anyone on the German side, which the BBC would later do in its other documentary, “The Nazis: A Warning from History.” Likewise, “The World at War” had already interviewed the Germans fairly well by the time that this series was made. But in other ways, this BBC program distinguishes itself with some of its interviews on the British side, of both ordinary people and government personnel. This also includes some interviews with the diplomatic personnel.
Ethnic Germans in the Sudetenland greet German soldiers with the Nazi salute, 1938
Episode 2: “Italy” (the lesser-known story of Fascist Italy, and how it entered the war)
The second episode is called “Italy,” and talks about Mussolini and Fascist Italy. In some ways, this is the episode from which I learned the most, because this topic is seldom covered elsewhere. Regardless, I actually watched an entire documentary on Mussolini and Fascist Italy, which was made by an Italian network. In contrast to the BBC’s coverage, this Italian-made documentary was a full eight hours long. But I actually think that the BBC gave better coverage in this one episode than this Italian network did in its series of eight episodes. To delve into the failures of the Italian-made documentary would be tangential in a post of this kind, but suffice it to say here that the BBC gives much better coverage. They talk about how Italy was ironically on the Allied side in the First World War, and was devastated by both the war and the way that it ended. In the 1920’s, it succumbed to the dictatorship of Benito Mussolini. This episode interviews a number of Italians, which sets it apart from the Italian-made series mentioned earlier. Some of the interviewees testify that they were more dedicated to Mussolini himself than they were to Fascist ideology. Thus, in many ways, it was a cult of personality around Benito Mussolini himself. Such cults are much easier to maintain, when their leaders have control of most of the information, as Mussolini often did.
Italian troops in Addis Ababa – Ethiopia, 1936
Later on, Italian troops invaded Ethiopia in 1935, and sent troops to fight in the Spanish Civil War in 1936 – fighting on the side of Franco’s Nationalists. They also invaded Albania in 1939. Thus, by the time that World War II began, the Italian military had already been bled dry by minor conquests, making it inadequate to the useless task of fighting the Allies. Mussolini resisted an alliance with the Germans, and continued to make overtures to the Allies even after the European war had officially begun. But when the tide of war turned in Hitler’s favor after Dunkirk, Mussolini thought it safer to ally with the Germans, so he thus entered the war on their side. This probably seemed like a good idea at the time, but it eventually led Italy to disaster – as you may know. Some of those interviewed seem like Fascist apologists, while others are Communists or Liberals. Some of them were actually supportive of Fascism at the time, but had since changed their minds – or, at least, said that they had. Whatever their views, they give some compelling analysis, helping you to understand these things from an eyewitness’s perspective. Furthermore, they help you to understand why Italy joined the Axis, and why it entered the war in the first place.
Italian troops manning a 10 cm howitzer at Guadalajara, Spain – Spanish Civil War, 1937
Italian troops and tanks in Durrës – Albania, 1939
Episode 3: “Japan” (how the war in the East began, with conflicts in continental Asia)
The third episode is called “Japan,” and it talks about how the war in the East began. But they go back to far before World War II here. For example, they talk about Japan opening to the West in the nineteenth century. This opened Japan to Western influence, which was not always appreciated (to put it mildly). This film mentions the irony of Japan fighting on the Allied side in World War One. That is to say, they were allied with the British Commonwealth against the Germans. They wanted good relations with the British, who had made inroads into China by that point. For example, the British controlled Hong Kong – and in the greater Asia-Pacific region, they also controlled Singapore and Malaya. The French then controlled Indochina, later to be known as Vietnam. The Netherlands controlled the Dutch East Indies, later to be known as Indonesia. And the Americans controlled the Philippines, which had been acquired some decades earlier in the Spanish-American War. Thus, Japan wanted a piece of the action for itself. They wanted imperial glory on a par with that of the Western powers. But they were some decades too late for that, since Western imperialism was on the decline by this point. In my opinion, Western disapproval of Japanese imperialism was based more on changing attitudes towards imperialism, than it was on the racial status of the Japanese (although there were some actual racist feelings against them).
Japanese troops marching into Mukden – Manchuria, 1931
The war in the East began with the Japanese attack on Manchuria in 1931. Manchuria was still nominally a part of China. However, Japan and the Soviet Union had border conflicts in Mongolia starting in 1932, which kept Japan distracted. In 1937, the Japanese then attacked Greater China, with infamous atrocities at places like Nanking. This is dramatized in another BBC documentary, more focused on Japanese atrocities. (More on that here.) Suffice it to say here that the Japanese had already been at war for roughly a decade by the time that they attacked Pearl Harbor. In 1939, there was another border conflict with the Russians in Mongolia, resulting in a Soviet and Mongolian victory. But the American part of this broader story is the most famous part, because Pearl Harbor changed the dynamics of the entire worldwide war – including the parts of the war that were fought in Europe. But the Japanese also attacked the British, the French, and the Dutch in their respective aforementioned colonies in the region. This documentary interviews some Japanese historians who are clearly apologists for Imperial Japan, and who paint Japan as the “victim” of Western imperialism. I don’t mind getting these people on the record, but I do think that their claims are grossly misleading. Thus, it’s good that the BBC also interviewed some other Japanese historians who disagreed with these claims. Specifically, these Japanese historians disapproved of Japan’s past imperialism, and helped Japan to talk more openly about its crimes during this period. This is a healthy process, which can lead to some real healing for both Japan and its past victims.
Japanese troops enter Nanking, 1938
Episode 4: “USA” (how the greatest superpower of the era entered the war)
The last episode is called “USA,” and talks about the lead-up to American entry into the war. For example, they talk about how America had been involved in World War One. As you might expect, America fought on the Allied side of that war, helping the British and the French to fight the Germans (no surprises there). Although the British and the French had done most of the fighting before then, American reinforcements were sorely needed to tip the balance in the Allies’ favor. For example, these American reinforcements helped the Western Allies to recover from the 1917 Russian Revolution, and the resulting Russian exit from the war. During the interwar period, America was actually staunchly isolationist, something that this documentary covers extensively. But when World War Two began in Europe, American public opinion turned somewhat in Britain’s favor, particularly when British cities began to be bombed by the Nazis. Americans were not yet ready to fully intervene, but they did want to send some help to the British. Thus, they initially instituted a policy of “cash-and-carry,” where the British had to pay for everything up-front in “cash,” and then “carry” it themselves across the Atlantic. But as things got worse for the British, Americans became willing to lend the money to Britain instead, content with the loans being paid off at some future date which was fairly distant. This is the origin of the Lend-Lease Act, which was a major turning point in American foreign policy at this time.
FDR and Churchill aboard HMS Prince of Wales – Atlantic Charter, 1941
Most importantly, the Americans were getting involved in the Battle of the Atlantic. The American merchant vessels were transporting supplies across the Atlantic, even though German U-boats were trying to sink them – along with the ships and their crews carrying them. And the United States Navy was already involved in escorting them. The casualties began long before Pearl Harbor. But as far as direct involvement went, the Americans were not yet ready to get fully involved. FDR was pushing the envelope on what Americans would tolerate in this area, something that this episode covers extensively. He was having friendly correspondence with Churchill, as this documentary also points out. On the other side of the world, there was a diplomatic incident in Asia, where the Japanese bombed an American gunboat sailing in Chinese waters. But the Americans were content with an apology, and were willing to overlook the incident when this apology came. Eventually, they cut off the Japanese supplies in vital war materials – including, and especially, oil. But the Japanese wanted these materials badly, and were willing to go to war for a chance to get them. Thus, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, and everything suddenly changed. Soon after, Hitler declared war on the United States, in the vain hope that this would convince his Japanese allies to declare war on their mutual enemy, the Soviet Union. But Hitler only succeeded in enraging the United States, and the isolationism of the past few decades was thus gone. This episode gives the story of how the United States entered both of these major theaters of World War Two, almost simultaneously. Eventually, the American entry would turn the tide in the Allies’ favor, and become a major factor in the war – although the role of the other Allies was also quite important, as I should also acknowledge.
USS Arizona sinking at Pearl Harbor – December 7th, 1941
Conclusion: This is a great introduction to a complex topic, which definitely does it justice
Thus, the BBC gives a great introduction to how World War Two began. For a journalist, Charles Wheeler does rather well as a writer and presenter. Again, my main criticisms are that they omitted the respective roles of France and Nazi Germany. But you can supplement their coverage with other documentaries, such as “The World at War” – or the BBC’s own documentary “The Nazis: A Warning from History.” Each of these covers the German role in the war’s beginning, and “The World at War” delves somewhat into prewar France. These documentaries both have copious interviews with German eyewitnesses, to supplement the interviews from “The Road to War” with other combatant nations. Thus, these omissions are not as problematic as one might expect, particularly when they give coverage of Fascist Italy that few other English-speaking films seem willing to give. The other main omission is that of Soviet Russia, another major topic. But the BBC covers this in still another film, which is entitled “War of the Century: When Hitler Fought Stalin.” And “The World at War” also covered the Russian front extensively. Thus, one can forgive them for this omission, in light of what they were able to accomplish in their other segments here.
Thus, this film has definite merit – and I believe that it will thus remain a valuable resource for World War II buffs. It examines some of the major perspectives of the war, and will help you to appreciate how the greatest war in history began.
Footnote to this blog post:
I include here a link to a Netherlands release of this DVD. This is because it’s the only release that I know of with just this one program. But this program is also available as part of the “BBC History of World War II.” Thus, if viewers want to see the other programs as well, I presume that it would be more cost-effective to get them all at once. However, I include both links below, to present the viewer with multiple options. Viewers may do as they please.
Also available as part of the “BBC History of World War II”
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