1. World War II 18.1 The Outbreak of World War II

2. Nazi Expansion ► ► March 1939 – Hitler’s armies occupied all of Czechoslovakia ► ► Hitler wants Polish city of Danzig ► ► = defies Munich Agreement ► ► Poles refuse to surrender city

3. Nazi Expansion ► France & Britain ► Will go to war with Germany if Hitler attacks Poland ► Hope for Soviet help against Nazis

5. Soviet/Nazi Nonaggression Pact ► August 23, 1939 ► Stalin & Hitler agree not to attack each other ► Shocks the world since Stalin had been against fascism ► Secretly agreed to divide Poland

6. War Breaks Out ► Sept. 1, 1939 ► German armies invade Poland ► Sept. 3, 1939 ► Britain & France declare war on Germany & become the Allied Powers ► Soviet troops also invade eastern Poland and Finland ► Poland conquered in less than 1 month

7. Presidential Election / 1940 ► Roosevelt wins reelection for his unprecedented third term ► Won by promising to keep America out of war ► Secretly knew that American involvement was unavoidable

8. Lend-Lease Act ► War materials flowed between Britain & the US ► Britain can’t pay for the supplies ► Roosevelt proposed the US lend or lease the supplies to Britain ► Later extended to Soviets ► $50 billion shipped total  Us received land for military bases

9. The Fall of France

10. German Blitzkrieg ► = The use of tanks, planes, paratroopers, and advanced communications to attack quickly and overwhelm ones opponent ► Means “Lightning War”

11. France Mobilizes & Falls ► French troops mobilized on the Maginot Line ► = Fortification on the southern border between Germany & France ► Germans defeated Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway, and Northern France

13. France Mobilizes & Falls ► Germans – go around Maginot Line through Ardennes Forrest ► Beat France in 1.5 Months ► British forced off continent at Dunkirk ► = Huge Failure ► Germany established a “puppet” French government in the south at Vichy = Vichy Regime

14. Battle of Britain ► May 10, 1940: ► Winston Churchill: elected PM of Britain ► Britain stands alone against the Axis ► Churchill opposed appeasement towards Hitler & continued fighting

15. Battle of Britain ► August 1940 ► Massive, daily & nightly bombings of British cities by Luftwaffe (German Air Force) ► German Goal: Break British will to fight; doesn’t work ► British Royal Air Force used radar & destroyed more German planes

18. Operation Barbarossa ► July 1941 ► Need Oil – fuel for army ► Hitler’s Generals against this  Hitler invades the Soviet Union  Violates their agreement; Soviets caught off guard  Two front war

20. Battle of the Atlantic ► German U-Boats –  Continued to cause serious damage to Allied ships & supplies ► Allies counteracted with –  Better sonar  Faster escort ships  Bombing of submarine shipyards  Nazis lost 783 U-Boats