WWII Begins!

Hitler’s First Demands Late 1937 stepped his call for unification of all German speaking people including those in Austria and Czechoslovakia. Feb Hitler threatened to invade Austria, his native land, unless Austrian Nazis were given important government posts. Austria’s chancellor quickly gave into this demand, but later tried to put this to a democratic vote and Hitler feared the outcome would not be in his favor so he sent troops into Austria in March 1938, and announced the Anschluss, or unification of Austria and Germany!

Munich Crisis & Appeasement Next, Hitler announced German claims to Sudetenland (an area of Czechoslovakia with a large German-speaking population) Czechoslovakia was a democracy allied with France and the Soviet Union, whereas Austria had an authoritarian government and no allies to help it defend itself. Czechs resisted Germany, France threatened to fight and USSR also promised assistance, Britain promised support to France. TO PREVENT ANOTHER WAR, representatives of Britain, France, Italy and Germany agreed to meet in Munich to decide Czechoslovakia’s fate.

Neville Chamberlain – British Prime Minister

Munich Crisis & Appeasement At Munich Conference, Britain and France agreed to Hitler’s demands, a policy known as appeasement. (giving concessions in exchange for peace) They felt if they gave Hitler what he wanted, he would be satisfied and WAR WOULD BE AVOIDED! Czechoslovakia was told it must give up Sudetenland or fight Germany on its own! British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain hoped this would satisfy Hitler and was also buying time for Britain to speed up British rearmament. March 1938– in violation of Munich agreement, Germany sent troops into Czechoslovakia and broke up the country. The Czech lands became a German protectorate.

Munich Agreement

Danzig and Polish Corridor Oct – Hitler sets his sights on Poland! Demanded return of Danzig, an important Baltic Sea port lost to Poland in WWI French and British realize that appeasement has failed. March 31, 1938 – British announced that if Poland went to war to defend its territory, Britain and France would come to its aid. This encouraged Poland to stand up to Hitler’s demands. May 1939 Hitler prepared to invade Poland, ordered his foreign minister to begin negotiations with USSR.

Nazi-Soviet Non-aggression Pact Joseph Stalin agrees to Germans proposed nonaggression treaty. He believed the best way to protect USSR was to turn the capitalist nations against each other. Signed 8/23/39 Communism and Socialism were supposed to be totally opposed to each other! Britain and France thought Hitler did this to free up his eastern front but did not realize that this treaty also contained a secret deal between Germany and USSR to divide Poland between themselves.

WAR BEGINS!!! Sept. 1, 1939 – Germany invades Poland from the west. Soviets invade from the east Sept. 3, 1939 – Britain and France declare war on Germany

Blitzkreig!!! AKA “Lightning war” Used large numbers of massed tanks to break through and rapidly encircle enemy positions. Supporting the tanks were waves of aircraft that bombed enemy positions and dropped paratroopers to cut their supply lines. Blitzkrieg depended on radios to coordinate the tanks and aircraft. Sept. 27, 1939 – Polish capital of Warsaw fell to the Germans. Oct. 5 – Polish army had been defeated.

Fall of France While this was happening in Poland, Britain and France were doing nothing. Germans called it the sitzkrieg. British called it the “Bore War” and Americans named it the “Phony War.” Britain had sent troops to France but they were just holed up at Maginot Line (a line of concrete bunkers and fortifications) waiting for Germans to attack. This allowed Germany to concentrate on Poland first before turning their attention to France and England.

After taking Poland, Hitler attacked Norway and Denmark before invading France. Hitler feared that the British could block iron shipments from Sweden (and shipped down coast of Norway) if he did not take control of these countries. He attacked on and had control of both countries within a month. Now Hitler could concentrate on France. To get around the Maginot Line, Hitler invaded the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg first. First attacked on May 10, British and French expected the attack and raced north into Belgium. Instead of sending their tanks through the open countryside, Hitler sent his main force through the Ardennes Mountains of Luxembourg. The French did not think that large numbers of tanks could move through the mountains and left only a few troops to defend that part of the border. Germans easily smashed through the French border and raced west across northern France to the English Channel. British and French armies were still in Belgium and now could not move back into France, they were trapped. Germans began driving them to the English Channel. The only hope for Britain and France was to evacuate them by sea. The Germans had captured all but one port – Dunkirk. As German forces marched on Dunkirk, Hitler suddenly ordered them to stop. No one knows why.

Herman Goering, head of German air force, assured Hitler that aircraft alone could destroy the trapped soldiers. But still he waited and provided a three day delay. Some 850 ships of all sizes, navy warships to small sailboats operated by civilians, headed to Dunkirk from England. Able to evacuate 338,000 British and French Troops. British newspapers referred to this as the “Miracle at Dunkirk.” Unfortunately they had to leave all of their equipment behind. Left 90,000 rifles, 7,000 tons of ammunition, and 120,000 vehicles. Now if Hitler invaded England, it would be almost impossible to stop him without equipment. Three weeks later, Hitler accepted Frances surrender. June 22, In same railway car that Germans surrendered in at end of WWI.

Britain Remains Defiant Winston Churchill has replaced Neville Chamberlain as Prime Minister. Hitler fully expected the British to negotiate peace after France surrendered. Instead Winston Churchill delivered a defiant speech in Parliament, June 4, It was meant to rally the British troops and alert the US to Britain’s plight. “Even though large tracts of Europe have fallen… we shall not flag or fail…We shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender.” So Hitler prepared to invade. Only the choppy waters of the English Channel separated Britain from Germany’s powerful army. Getting across the channel posed a major challenge.

Britain Remains Defiant Germany had few transport ships. And the British air force would sink them if they tried to land troops in England. To invade England….. Germany had to defeat the British Air Force! Battle of Britain was an air battle between Britain’s air force and Germany’s air force, AKA the Luftwaffe. Aug. 23, 1940 Germany accidentally bombed London. This attack on civilians enraged the British. They bombed Berlin the next night. Infuriated Hitler ordered the Luftwaffe to concentrate on bombing London. He thought he could terrorize the British people into surrendering. British people hid out in the subways. British had one major advantage: a new technology called radar. Able to detect incoming German aircraft and direct British fighters to intercept them. The skills of a few hundred pilots saved Britain from invasion. On Oct. 12, 1940, Hitler cancelled the invasion of Britain.