WWII Causes Cartoon: Hitler's Expansionist Policy (From Britain & France View)

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This cartoon describes one of the causes of World War II, which is Hitler's expansionist policy. I am drawing this cartoon from the point of view of Britain and France. As we can see, one of Hitler's expansionist policies is the idea of "lebensraum", which basically means living space. From Britain and France's point of view, we can say that this living space is taking away free land from the countries that are not in control of Germany at that time. According to the information, it says that Hitler believed the living space that he needed for German population in the future would be captured from other parts of Europe, especially the on east (and including the Soviet Union). As in the cartoon, it is like making a wall to draw a new border around an area of land. People on the other side would be complaining to get their lands back. Therefore, when people's lands are taken away, more tensions built up and it is what led to the outbreak of World War II.

Sir Winston Churchill (By Oak and Cash)

Sir Winston Churchill is the greatest British political figure and a national hero during World War I and II. His father, Lord Randolph Churchill was a politician as well. At young, he studied at Harrow and Sandhurst and was at the very bottom of class. After he was graduated, his career was inconstantly. His first job was a reporter. He was working for the London Daily Graphic. Then during 1896 to 1897, Churchill became both soldier and journalist in India. In 1900, he was elected to the parliament. Then in 1908, he married an American wife, and got one son and three daughters. As World War I broke out, Churchill had helped in developing weapons, especially the tank. He also helped the British’s fleet to prepare in war. However, his fight in Dardanelles was failed, and so it made his reputation decrease. Also, after World War I, he was against the policy of appeasement, believing that it would bring harm to Britain. People still did not want war to occur, so Churchill still was not famous. As the war broke out in September 1939, people then realized that Churchill was right and his famous had increased. His reputation continued to increase during World War II.

There were some contributions that Sir Winston Churchill had made before and during World War II. Before World War II broke out, Neville Chamberlain had made an agreement at Munich, known as the Munich Agreement, with Adolf Hitler saying that Britain and Germany would never go to war again. They agreed to work out any future differences by negotiation and Hitler informed Chamberlain that he had “no further territorial demands.” As a lot of people were relieved with these words, Winston Churchill stood up and voiced disapproval. Churchill believed that signing the agreement with Hitler was the worst course of action that could have been taken. It was true that Hitler had got his way with Czechoslovakia, but it was no guarantee against the threat of future aggression from Germany. He recognized that Hitler could not be trusted and that appeasing him was not a long-term solution to keeping the peace. However, as most people were determined to avoid war, Churchill did not become popular. When the war broke out later in 1939, it appeared that Churchill was right. Then, on May 10, 1940, King George VI asked him to become Prime Minister. In his first speeches as Prime Minister, he usually tells the people “I have nothing left to offer but blood, toil, and tears.” During the war, he gave a lot of speeches to make the British keep confidence. His words and signs help the British going in their darkest hour. One of his greatest achievements was to stand up as a strong opponent to any negotiations with Germany throughout the war. He also made relationships with other countries like the United States and the Soviet Union. Finally when the war ended in 1945 with Germany surrendered, it has been proved that Churchill had been a great wartime leader. But later, the British people wanted new changes in the government. There was a general election and Churchill was replaced by a new Prime Minister, Clement Attlee.

According to our opinions, we can see how Sir Winston Churchill had helped Britain go through the war after he was unsuccessful in warning the people before the war would break out. During the war, his job as a leader was to keep the spirits of the people and the army up. This was important because without someone to give hope, the people would be in a bad state and would be scare to do anything, especially defend themselves when being attacked. Another important role was his relationships with foreign countries. This was also important because it gave confident to those countries that there is someone ready to help when in need. Those countries would also help Britain too, because of the alliance system, and another reason was because of Churchill’s reliable speeches. We believe that Sir Winston Churchill was one of the greatest leaders of Britain during the time of World War II and later after the war. This is why we call him an important person of World War II.

- By Oak and Cash

Sources

1) "Sir Winston Churchill biography.” echeat. 12 Jan 2008. [http://www.echeat.com/essay.php?t=25660]

2) "Winston Churchill." Churchill Biography. PANTAS PROJECT PHILIPPINES. 12 Jan 2008. [http://pantas.ph/lit-elib/churchill.html]

3) "Winston Churchill.” Wikipedia. 13 Jan 2008. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winston_Churchill]

4) "Kelly, Niger, and Paul Shuter. Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965). 13 Jan 2008. Singapore: Pearson Education, 2004.