Essential Question: Why did Poland collapse so fast?

 Hitler led a surprise attack at dawn on Poland.  Planes invaded Polish airspace, raining bombs and terror.  German tanks and 1.5 million troops invaded the Polish border.  Warsaw (the capital of Poland) crumbled.  This was the first act of WWII in Europe.

 Hitler’s new style of military warfare became known as ‘Blitzkrieg’.  It involved fast moving airplanes and tanks, followed by massive infantry, to take the enemy by surprise.  Blitzkrieg forces swiftly crushed all opposition with overwhelming force.

 France and Great Britain declared war on Germany on September 3.  Poland fell three weeks before France or Great Britain could mobilize for war.  Hitler took the western half of Poland.  Stalin took the eastern half of Poland.

 After Poland fell, Stalin took control of Eastern Poland.  Stalin also annexed Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia without any struggle.  However, Finland resisted.

 Great Britain and France set up a series of forts along the ‘Maginot’ line in France.  Allied forces stared eastward toward the enemy but nothing happened.  The Allies waited for the Germans to attack for almost seven months.