The causes of ww 2 can be traced to two places. Germany and Japan. At the time of ww1, the Czar of Russia, the Queen of England, and Kaiser Wilhelm were all related. England had the strongest navy in the world, and the Kaiser was jealous. The Czar didn't have a clue what was going on, and it all came to a head in Sarejevo with the murder of Arch Duke Ferdinand. On that side of the pond, it started as a family squabble.I have bigger ships than you do, yah yah yah! Germany was defeated, and humiliated by the Treaty of Versailles. Hitler came along and promised them what they needed to hear. He did not want to go to war with the USA, but, his ally, Japan did, and he had to go along. In the miiddle of the 19th century, we sent envoys to Japan to force them to open their doors to trade. They did not want to come out of their feudal past, but we forced it on them. In the 30's they began to expand because they live on a rock with no natural resources. They invaded China, they occupied many islands in the South Pacific, Korea, Southeast Asia, and we ordered them to pull out! (We had done the same thing in the early 1900's but, thats different. They told us to bugger off, so, FDR froze their assets, and cut off all shipments to Japan. Just as General Mitchell had predicted in 1928? they hit us at Pearl Harbor. Saving face was more important to them than living. As the Irish say, "I'd rather die on my feet than to live on my knees." Do what you will with this, those are the facts.