World War II Early Years

Aggressiveness and Allied Appeasement Mussolini attacks Ethiopia Late 1800s Italy tried to establish Ethiopia as a colony Ended in humiliating defeat for Italy Many Italians bitter about defeat and wanted revenge Italy conquered Ethiopia League of Nations response: NOTHING!!! Why not?

Hitler Defies the Treaty of Versailles Rebuilds Army Rebuilds Navy with British approval thanks to the Anglo German Naval Pact (June 18, 1935) Remilitarizes the Rhineland (March 7, 1936)

US Reaction Isolationism – avoid political ties with other nations

Great Britain and France’s Reaction Appeasement – giving into an aggressor “If you give a mouse a cookie…he’s going to want a glass of milk.”

Hitler Continues Expansion and Defiance of Treaty Anschluss – union between Germany and Austria (March 12, 1938)

5) Sudetenland Part of Czechoslovakia with many German speaking people Czechoslovakia turned to Britain and France for help At the Munich Conference Great Britain and France agreed to give Hitler the Sudetenland to avoid war (example of appeasement) September 30, 1938 Peace in our Time 6) 6 Months later Hitler took all of Czechoslovakia and Italy took Albania

Alliances Rome Berlin Axis – Mussolini (Italy) and Hitler (Germany) October 1936 Nazi Soviet Non-aggression pact Germany agreed not to attack Russia and give Russia soon to be conquered parts of Eastern Europe Russia agreed to stay out of Germany’s way August 1939

Hitler Demands Poland Hitler used Blitzkrieg (lightening war) – massive air and land strike Polish fought but no match for German military and technology Great Britain and France declared war on Germany September 3, 1939 once Hitler pushed into Poland Not enough time to mobilize to save Poland

“Phoney” War Allied Strategy – wait for Hitler’s next move Refers to a period of inactivity Germany was planning how to attack France and decided to go through the Ardennes

Phoney War ended when Hitler took Denmark and Norway to control seas Allies had massive troop levels to the north of the Ardennes along the Belgium and French border French/German border protected by bunkers and fortresses called the Maginot Line Allied forces did not have forces along the Ardennes because they thought it would be too treacherous for Germany to attack here – they were WRONG Phoney War ended when Hitler took Denmark and Norway to control seas

Hitler takes France May 1940 German troops swept through Netherlands and Belgium While France’s attention on the North, Hitler sent troops through Ardennes German troops able to trap Allied forces in Northern France Allies rescued at port city of Dunkirk

By June France had surrendered Germany occupied much of France The unoccupied part of France was known as Vichey France Vichey France was ruled by officials who obeyed Hitler

Charles DeGaulle French General Charles DeGaulle fled to Great Britain to organize resistance to Hitler He created the Free French military and battled Hitler until France’s liberation

Battle for Britain Hitler then focused his attention on Great Britain He used the Luftwaffe to try and take out the British Royal Air Force Hitler did not sense easy victory so turned sights to Eastern Europe and Mediterranean

Axis Powers 1940 Japan formed a military alliance with Germany and Italy

Balkans (Eastern Europe) Bulgaria, Romania, and Hungary joined Axis Powers in 1941 Yugoslavia and Greece resisted so Hitler invaded

Hitler Invades the Soviet Union Soviets unprepared for attack due to Nazi-Soviet Non-aggression Pact Not equipped or trained despite warnings from Allies that Hitler was going East

Germany reached 500 miles inside the Soviet Union In September they surrounded the city of Leningrad 1 million died that winter alone 800,000 civilians died in the battle for Leningrad Leningrad would not surrender so Hitler turned attention to Moscow (capital)

Germans advanced to outskirts of Moscow where they faced a Russian counterattack and the most brutal of all…the Russian winter Germans retreated due to being unprepared for Russian winter Hitler ordered them to not retreat so Germans held the line 125 miles outside the city