Early WWII Timeline: Axis Advances
Learning Targets - GOALS 1. List the “starting line-up” of WWII. Be able to compare and contrast each nation, including the similarities and differences. 2. Describe the economic, social and political causes of World War II. 3. Evaluate the reasons for early Axis gains and Allied losses. 4. Evaluate the changing position of the United States. 1. List the “starting line-up” of WWII. Be able to compare and contrast each nation, including the similarities and differences. 2. Describe the economic, social and political causes of World War II. 3. Evaluate the reasons for early Axis gains and Allied losses. 4. Evaluate the changing position of the United States.
1934: Italy invades Ethiopia
1935: U.S. passes Neutrality Act American history of isolationism IsolationistInterventionist
1936: FDR’s “Cash and Carry” Plan allows sale of war goods for $$ (no loans), but must transport
July 1937: Japan declares war on China Japanese Soldiers in Nanking where 300,000 civilians were massacred
1938: Germany annexes Austria and takes over part of Czechoslovakia Celebration of the Anschluss after the Austrian Nazi Party’s Coup d’etat before a vote Postcard from Austrian supporters
1938: German Land Gains
September 1938: Munich Pact Appeasement policy: give Germany what it wants for peace (parts of Czech.)
10 August 1939: Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact Secret agreement to divide up Poland Why might this agreement be good for Germany?
Sept. 1, 1939: Germany attacks Poland Polish Calvary Forces vs. German Tanks and Motorized Calvary
Sept. 3, 1939: WWII STARTS! Britain & France declare war on Germany!
Fall -Winter 1940: “Sitzkrieg” (phony war) w/ France & Britain French defenses at the Maginot Line
June 1940: Fall of France -“Blitzkrieg” (“lightning” quick warfare with air cover, paratroopers, tanks and ground forces following) Dunkirk Evacuation “Miracle” -- expected save 50, ,226 British, French and Belgians rescued civlian and naval vessels -- lost supplies Hitler in Paris
15 "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!" —Winston Churchill, June 4, 1940, following the evacuation of British and French armies from Dunkirk as the German tide swept through France.
16 Summer-Fall 1940: Battle of Britain Germany does not invade Britain; instead bombing raids, including “The Blitz”
Elephant and Castle Tube Station during the Blitz
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“Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.” --Winston Churchill 1940 on the pilots of the RAF during the Battle of Britain and the Blitz
March 1941: Lend-Lease Act U.S. lends arms to Allies so “arsenal for democracy” Some U.S. ships sunk in Atlantic by U-boats
Lend-Lease Act YES—Pass Lend-Lease! NO—Stay neutral!