The Holocaust, which took place during World War 2, was one of the worst genocides the world has ever seen. It's impossible to justify its happening, but we can identify some reasons it happened. This article looks at a few of them. First though, what was the Holocaust? It was a prolonged event that involved the murder of millions of Jewish people in concentration camps on the order of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party. He was a racist who wanted everyone to be from the 'Aryan race'.
One of the biggest reasons the Holocaust happened was because of Hitler's imperial ambition - he wanted to make Germany bigger and was intent on killing anyone he didn't want to be part of the new, bigger Germany. People from lots of groups were killed, but it was the Jewish people who took the brunt of it. Hitler invaded countries all across Europe in his quest and he tried to control the Jewish population by enacting anti-Semitic laws and later murdering them at concentration camps like Auschwitz.
The legacy of the First World War also played a part in starting the Holocaust, because their defeat in that war made Germany feel very humiliated. The country was largely demilitarized and they lost most of their colonies. Also, the Treaty of Versailles required that Germany and its allies took full responsibility for what had happened. So, by the time the Nazi Party and Hitler came to power, they wanted to make a German comeback and so took rash action.
The difficulties the Allies had in fighting the Nazis were another contributing factor to the extent of the Holocaust, because the Germans had an effective war machine that made it hard to breakthrough, even when countries like the United Kingdom and United States started fighting back. The fact that so many European countries were occupied by the Nazis made it hard for the Resistance to make any headway against them and they faced many barriers when fighting to try and make a breakthrough.
Lastly, Adolf Hitler's personal beliefs also contributed to the Holocaust, an event we are still living with the effects of today and probably always will. Hitler thought, for instance, that the Jewish people had a secret conspiracy to take over the world. He thought this because they had been reluctant to fight in World War One and his misguided (and somewhat mad) beliefs led to some of the very worst atrocities in human history, casting light on some of humanity's darkest places.
One of the biggest reasons the Holocaust happened was because of Hitler's imperial ambition - he wanted to make Germany bigger and was intent on killing anyone he didn't want to be part of the new, bigger Germany. People from lots of groups were killed, but it was the Jewish people who took the brunt of it. Hitler invaded countries all across Europe in his quest and he tried to control the Jewish population by enacting anti-Semitic laws and later murdering them at concentration camps like Auschwitz.
The legacy of the First World War also played a part in starting the Holocaust, because their defeat in that war made Germany feel very humiliated. The country was largely demilitarized and they lost most of their colonies. Also, the Treaty of Versailles required that Germany and its allies took full responsibility for what had happened. So, by the time the Nazi Party and Hitler came to power, they wanted to make a German comeback and so took rash action.
The difficulties the Allies had in fighting the Nazis were another contributing factor to the extent of the Holocaust, because the Germans had an effective war machine that made it hard to breakthrough, even when countries like the United Kingdom and United States started fighting back. The fact that so many European countries were occupied by the Nazis made it hard for the Resistance to make any headway against them and they faced many barriers when fighting to try and make a breakthrough.
Lastly, Adolf Hitler's personal beliefs also contributed to the Holocaust, an event we are still living with the effects of today and probably always will. Hitler thought, for instance, that the Jewish people had a secret conspiracy to take over the world. He thought this because they had been reluctant to fight in World War One and his misguided (and somewhat mad) beliefs led to some of the very worst atrocities in human history, casting light on some of humanity's darkest places.
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