Download CH. 23-2 EUROPE ERUPTS IN WAR

CH. 23-2 EUROPE ERUPTS IN
WAR
AMERICAN HISTORY
WORLD WAR II STARTS
 British PM Neville Chamberlain believed his policy
of APPEASEMENT (giving into aggressive demands
to maintain peace) had prevented the outbreak of a
needless war
 A major critic of Appeasement was Winston
Churchill
 Churchill said appeasement was cowardly and would
lead to war
 HITLER’S EARLY MOVES
 March 1939—Hitler sent troops to conquer the rest of





Czechoslovakia—there was no resistance
Chamberlain now realized Hitler couldn’t be trusted
Hitler’s next move was to build alliances with other
nations that would benefit him
First alliance was with Italy
August 1939—Non-agression pact with Stalin’s Soviet
Union
Stalin would stay out of Hitler’s way as Germany
continued to expand
 HITLER ATTACKS POLAND
 Hitler’s next move was to invade Poland
 Hitler dressed a German criminal in a Polish
uniform
 The man was taken to the German-Polish border and
shot
 September 1, 1939—Germany claimed it had been
attacked by Poland, using the dead criminal as proof
 Germany immediately launched a massive invasion
of Poland
 Well-trained German military used the BLITZKRIEG
(German for lightening war) to devastate Poland
 The Poles fought bravely but could not resist the
German onslaught
 In some battles, Polish troops and horseback with
swords went into battle against German tanks
 Poland fell by the end of September 1939
GERMAN FORCES TURN TO THE WEST
 September 3, 1939—Great Britain and France declare





war on Germany
GB and France became known as THE ALLIES
Allies decided not to attack Germany but wait for
their next move
Germany did not attack during the winter 1939-1940
This period became known as the SITZKRIEG (the
phony war)
Germany was preparing to invade France and
Belgium through the dense Ardennes Forest
 France didn’t think Germany would go that way so their
defenses were elsewhere
 April 1940—Germany sent forces into Denmark and
Norway
 Germany wanted improved access to the Atlantic Ocean
 THE NETHERLANDS AND BELGIUM FALL
 May 1940—Germany make move toward France
 German troops quickly conquered the Netherlands and
stormed into Belgium
 In Belgium, German forces were opposed by Belgian,
British, and French troop but they couldn’t stop the
assault
 Early June—hundreds of thousands of Allied troops
trapped at the French port of Dunkirk including
most of British forces
 Allied and civilian boats rescued the British troops
and took them back to Britain
 These troops would be vital to the British defense
 FRANCE FALLS
 While conquering the Netherlands and Belgium,





Germany executed a surprise attack through the
Ardennes Forest into France
The small French resistance was easily overwhelmed
Hitler’s troops raced toward Paris
End of June 1940—France surrenders to Germany and
Italy
German forces occupied much of France
The other part of France was known as VICHY FRANCE
and run by Frenchmen that cooperated with Hitler
 Many French leaders, led by General Charles de
Gaulle, fled to Great Britain to organize resistance to
German and Vichy control of France
 THE BATTLE OF BRITAIN
 Great Britain stood alone against the unstoppable
Germany war machine
 Britain was now led by Winston Churchill
 Churchill inspired courage and confidence among
the British
 Churchill refused to consider negotiating a peace




treaty with Germany
Germany first tried to destroy the British Royal Air
Force (RAF) but for the first time they failed
Britain used RADAR to detect approaching German
planes and inflict heavy damage on German planes
German air force (LUFTWAFFE) began bombing
London hoping the British would lose the will to
fight
Churchill kept British spirits up
 Americans followed the Battle of Britain through the
reporting of Edward R. Murrow, an American
reporter stationed in London
 Late 1940, the Battle of Britain was over and the
German Luftwaffe had been stopped
 Hitler called off the attempted invasion
TENSIONS IN EAST ASIA
 Japan viewed itself as a great imperial power
 1934—Japan began expanding it naval forces
 This violated promises made at the Washington




Naval Conference in the 1920s
1937—Japan began a war against China
Japanese troops massacred an estimated 200,000 to
300,000 Chinese in the capital Nanjing
1940—Japan formed a military alliance with
Germany and Italy
These nations became known as the AXIS POWERS
 1941—Japanese forces take over French Indonesia




(Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam) with approval from
Vichy France
Japan intended to seek the oil and other resources of
the Dutch East Indies (Indonesia)
The USA took steps to punish Japan economically
and deny access to vital oil supplies
Representatives of the USA and Japan met
In Japan, a powerful group led by the war minister,
General Hideki Tojo push the government not to
accept any compromise
 Tojo was a strong nationalist. He would go to war in
order to build a Japanese empire
 October 1941—strong pressure from Tojo forced
Japan’s government to resign
 Tojo took control of the country
 American leaders did not realize it, but the time for
compromise with Japan was over
 THE END