To recap, A Norman Bastard invaded England and claimed the throne. For the next seven centuries, France and England fought over who was king of their respective countries. Their bitter feud came to a head when a bunch of rebel colonials declared independence from Great Britain and France stepped in to help. The Americans defaulted on their loans and the result was one of the causes of the French Revolution. In the ensuing wars, French General (and later Emperor) Napoleon rampaged through Europe, humbling the militaries of every continental power (except Great Britain). After the fall of France, Germany rose to power and influence in the next decades.
In an ill-advised pissing contest, France declared war on Germany and it took the Germans about six months to utterly defeat France. The French were so humiliated and embarrassed they vowed to never forget.
The French lost the Seven Years War, so helped the Americans defeat the British in the American Revolution. The French lost the Napoleonic Wars, so were jealous of the rising German Power. They lost the Franco-Prussian War, so demanded harsher-than-harsh terms on the Germans after The Great War (WWI).
Economic conditions in Germany were so bad following WWI that the nation was in economic collapse. The currency was not worth the ink it took to print it. Unemployment was at astronomically high levels, exacerbated by a Global Depression (the Great Depression wasn't just an American thing). An articulate orator rallied the German people, exhorted them to greatness and promised a future where the Germans would rule Europe for a thousand years. People with no hope will follow anyone who promises a light at the end of the tunnel. It is a little-spoken truth that the best way to boost an economy is war, and well, those damn French (and the Jews) caused all of this economic pain so...
Germany invaded Poland on the way to France and the world exploded into war.
And that is how an ambitious bastard Norman sort of, kind of, started WWII.
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