WORLD WAR II PRELUDE TO GLOBAL WAR

EXPANSION 1936: GERMAN TROOPS MOVE INTO THE RHINELAND (WESTERN GERMANY) VIOLATION OF THE VERSAILLES TREATY GERMAN ARMY: NOT READY TO FIGHT BRITAIN AND FRANCE DID NOT RESIST

AXIS POWERS 1936: HITLER AND MUSSOLINI SIGN AN ALLIANCE LATER JOINED BY: JAPAN

GERMAN EMPIRE GROWS MARCH 1938: HITLER ANNEXED AUSTRIA (ANSCHLUSS) BRITAIN AND FRANCE PROTESTED “GERMAN-AUSTRIAN AFFAIRS WERE THE CONCERN OF THE GERMAN PEOPLE”

ANSCHLUSS

GERMAN EMPIRE GROWS 1938: HITLER DEMANDS SUDETENLAND EASTERN CZECHOSLOVAKIA WITH A HEAVY GERMAN POPULATION

AVOIDING WAR SEPTEMBER 1938: REPRESENTATIVES FROM ENGLAND, FRANCE, GERMANY, AND ITALY MEET IN MUNICH, GERMANY ENGLAND: NEVILLE CHAMBERLAIN FRANCE: EDOUARD DALADIER GERMANY: HITLER ITALY: MUSSOLINI

MUNICH PACT BRITAIN AND FRANCE: FOLLOWED A POLICY OF APPEASEMENT: GIVING IN TO SOMEONE’S DEMANDS IN ORDER TO KEEP THE PEACE WHY? HITLER COULD HAVE THE SUDETENLAND (AND THAT IS IT!)

REACTIONS CHAMBERLAIN RETURNS HOME A HERO WINSTON CHURCHILL (PARLIAMENT): “Britain and France had to choose between war and dishonor. They chose dishonor. They will have war.”

SIX MONTHS LATER HITLER ANNEXED THE REST OF CZECHOSLOVAKIA BRITAIN AND FRANCE: “ANY FURTHER EXPANSION RISKED WAR” HITLER – SIGNS TREATY WITH SOVIET UNION “NON-AGGRESSION PACT” – BITTER ENEMIES COMMITTED TO NEVER TO ATTACK EACH OTHER (IMPORTANCE?) 2 ND SECRET PACT: DIVIDE POLAND BETWEEN THEM

POLAND SEPTEMBER 1, 1939: GERMANY INVADES POLAND BRITAIN AND FRANCE DECLARE WAR ON GERMANY WAR ON GERMANY

BLITZKRIEG TACTIC USED IN INVADING POLAND “LIGHTING WAR” LUFTWAFFE – BOMBED BASES, AIRFIELDS, RAILROADS, CITIES TANKS, ARTILLERY, SOLDIERS MOVED IN BY TRUCK OVERRAN POLAND IN LESS THAN 1 MONTH

SIT DOWN WAR “SITZKRIEG” GERMAN TROOPS SAT AND WATCHED FRENCH TROOPS ON MAGINOT LINE ALONG THE FRANCE-GERMANY BORDER “PHONY WAR” – AMERICAN PRESS

DOMINATION APRIL 9, 1940: DENMARK AND NORWAY MAY 10, 1940: BELGIUM, THE NETHERLANDS JUNE 14, 1940: GERMAN TROOPS ENTER PARIS (FRENCH SURRENDER) FRENCH TROOPS: RETREATED TO G.B. (340,000 TROOP ACROSS THE ENGLISH CHANNEL) CHARLES DE GAULLE: “FRANCE HAS LOST A BATTLE, BUT HAS NOT LOST THE WAR”

DOMINATION IN LESS THAN 3 MONTHS: HITLER CONQUERED MOST OF WESTERN EUROPE GREAT BRITAIN STOOD ALONE

BATTLE OF BRITAIN GREATEST AIR ASSAULT THE WORLD HAD YET SEEN 1000 PLANES A DAY BOMBED BRITAIN RAF (ROYAL AIR FORCE) OUTNUMBERED DECEMBER 1940: LONDON BOMBED (1500 FIRES BROKE OUT) BRITISH WOULD NOT BACK DOWN (CHURCHILL) JUNE 1941: HITLER ENDED THE BOMBING

LONDON DURING BATTLE OF BRITAIN

British children huddled together in a makeshift bomb shelter experience a range of emotions as they endure an attack by Hitler's air force

JAPAN 1931: JAPAN’S ARMY SEIZED MANCHURIA (CHINA) BY 1940: CONTROLLED MOST OF EASTERN CHINA BECAME AN ALLY OF GERMANY AND ITALY SIGNED A NEUTRALITY ACT WITH: SOVIET UNION

AMERICAN RESPONSE? ENOUGH PROBLEMS AT HOME ISOLATIONISM FDR WAS CONCERNED WITH JAPANESE FDR: MOVED THE AMERICAN PACIFIC FLEET FROM SAN DIEGO, CA, TO PEARL HARBOR IN HAWAII

INVOLVEMENT GROWS GERMAN AGGRESSION SCARED MANY AMERICANS 1 ST PEACETIME DRAFT 1940: FDR ELECTED TO A 3 RD TERM CONGRESS PASSED LEND-LEASE ACT LEND-LEASE ACT: U.S. WOULD LEND OR LEASE ARMS AND OTHER SUPPLIES TO ANY COUNTRY WHOSE DEFENSE WAS VITAL TO THE U.S.

PEARL HARBOR JAPANESE BEGAN TAKING OVER FRENCH COLONIES IN INDOCHINA U.S. CUT OFF TRADE WITH JAPAN OCTOBER 1941: GENERAL HIDEKI TOJO BECAME PRIME MINISTER U.S. GOVERNMENT CRACKED SECRET CODES ABOUT JAPAN WANTING TO SEIZE MORE TERRITORY

PEARL HARBOR DECEMBER 7, 1941: SUNDAY 7:00 AM AMERICAN ARMY OPERATOR REPORTED THAT PLANES WERE HEADED TOWARD HIM HEADQUARTERS: AMERICAN PLANES “DON’T WORRY” 180 JAPANESE WAR PLANES WERE OVERHEAD MOST OF THE PACIFIC FLEET WAS IN THE HARBOR (LESS THAN 3 SQUARE MILES)

PEARL HARBOR OVER BY 9:45 A.M. RESULTS: 2400 DEAD 1200 WOUNDED 300 WAR PLANES DESTROYED 18 WARSHIPS DESTROYED (8 OF THE 9 BATTLESHIPS) 3 AIRCRAFT CARRIERS WERE AT SEA JAPAN: LOST 29 PLANES

REACTIONS AMERICANS STUNNED FDR: “December 7, 1941, a date which will live in infamy” DECLARED WAR ON JAPAN THE NEXT DAY 3 DAYS LATER: GERMANY AND ITALY DECLARE WAR ON THE U.S.