Chapter 16 Section 2 War in Europe
HITLER BEGINS HIS MARCH TO WORLD CONQUEST LEADING TO WWII 1935: Reintroduced conscription of men into the armed forces. 1935: declares Germany will rearm 1936: marched 22,000 troops into the Rhineland March 1938: – Takes over Austria The rest of the world does nothing
Munich Conference - Sept 1938: Hitler demands and is given strategic Czechoslovakian Sudetenland *meets with French premier, Edouard Dladier and British prime minister, Neville Chamberlain to declare that the Sudetenland was the last of his territorial demand Winston Churchill said they had adopted the policy of appeasement (giving up principles to pacify an aggressor) March 1939: Hitler takes the rest of Czechoslovakia The rest of the world does nothing
REACTIONS OF GERMANS LIVING IN THE SUDETENLAND TO HITLER’S TAKEOVER
The German Offensive Begins Nonaggression pact: Hitler and Stalin on August 23, 1939 commit never to attack each other and agreed to divide Poland between the two countries Hitler invades Poland on September 1, 1939 Stalin invades Poland on September 17, 1939
Blitzkrieg German air force, Luftwaffe, rain bombs down on Poland German tanks race across Polish countryside Blitzkrieg – Germany’s military strategy – Lightning war designed to take enemy by surprise – Fighting over in three weeks in Poland September 3, 1939: Great Britain and France declare war on Germany
The Phony War Maginot Line – system of underground fortifications along France’s eastern border After fall of Poland, for the next several months French and German soldiers sit and wait for something to happen April 9, 1940, Hitler invades France – Denmark and Norway, then the – Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg
France Falls June 22, 1940: France surrenders to Germany – French General Charles de Gaulle flees to England – Battle of Britain: Germany launches air war over Britain against Royal Air Force Raged through summer and fall of 1940 *RADAR invented and could track German planes even in the dark *September 15, RAF shot down over 185 German planes. RAF lost 22 *Hitler calls off invasion
Winston Churchill Elected as British Prime Minister in May, Britain’s greatest weapon against the Nazi’s Gifted speaker “Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.” --Battle of Britain RAF pilots --Winston Churchill
THE LONDON BLITZ: GERMANS Bomb LONDON and other British cities