Which combination of factors most directly contributed to the outbreak of World War II in Europe?

• A. The penalties of the Treaty of Versailles, economic devastation from the Great Depression, and the rise of aggressive totalitarian regimes in Germany, Italy, and Japan; expansionist aims and the failure of appeasement, with the invasion of Poland in 1939.
• B. The formation of the United Nations in 1945.
• C. The spark of World War I.
• D. The alliance between democracies that prevented expansion.

Answer: (A)