Download The Beginnings of WWII in Europe

German Aggression
1935-1940
Europe, 1935
• Adolf Hitler
– Beginnings
• WWI Veteran
– Hates Treaty of
Versailles
– Nazi Party
• Tries to overthrow Weimar
Republic gov’t in 1923.
– Writes Mein Kampf in
prison
– Der Fuhrer
• 1933, Appointed
Chancellor
• 1934, Reichstag Fire
– Hitler becomes dictator
– Lebenstraum
• “Living Space”
The Rise of Hitler
(Review)
Germany Re-arms!
• Starting in 1935, Hitler
begins re-arming
secretly
• Against Versailles Treaty
• Also builds “autobahn”
• October 1936 - “Axis
Powers”
– Hitler signs treaty with
Benito Mussolini
• “An axis between two
great cities, Berlin, and
Rome.”
• Against Versailles Treaty
– No secret alliances!
WWII, The Preview
• Revolution in Spain, 1936
– A socialist group seized power in 1936
elections.
• “Republicans”
– General Francisco Franco led army in revolt
against new gov’t
• “Nationalists” (Fascist/Totalitarian)
– Germany backs Nationalists
– Soviets back Republicans
• Nationalists win
– Francisco Franco, a dictator, takes power
• Sympathetic to Germany
Guernica
-Pablo Picasso
Violating Versailles
• March 1936, Hitler
remilitarizes the
Rhineland.
– Violation of Versailles
Treaty!
• March 1938, Hitler moves
troops into Austria.
– Anschluss = Union of
Germany and Austria
• March 1938, Hitler
threatens to annex
Sudetenland.
– Industrial, resource rich
area of Czech.
Munich Conference
• September 1938, European
powers meet to avoid another
war.
–
–
–
–
Adolf Hitler (Germany)
Neville Chamberlain (Britain)
Benito Mussolini (Italy)
Edouard Daladier (France)
• What two countries are
notably absent?
– Soviet Union and
Czechoslovakia
Munich Pact
• Munich Pact (1938)
– Germany can have
Sudetenland as long as
they leave the rest of
Czechoslovakia alone.
• Appeasement
– Giving in to demands.
– Refusal to comply with
these demands may lead
to war!
• Hitler took the rest of
Czechoslovakia less than
6 months later.
– Britain and France do not
“I believe it is ‘peace for our time.’ Go home
and get a nice quiet sleep.”
declare war.
The Non-Aggression Pact
• Why does Hitler want to sign a treaty with the Soviet
Union?
• August, 1939
– Hitler signs “Non-Aggression Pact” with Soviets
• Plan to divide up Eastern Europe
Blitzkrieg!
• Sept 1st, 1939
– Hitler Attacks Poland
• Poland, Britain, France declare war
– Blitzkrieg
• “Lightning war”
France Braces For War
• “Sitzkrieg” “Phony
War” “Bore War”
“Twilight War”
– No intense fighting
from October 1939 to
April 1940
• British and French
mobilize.
– Maginot Line
• Along border with
Germany
– Underground rails,
heavy artillery, thick
bunkers
Invasion of France
• April 1940
– Blitzkrieg on Norway,
Denmark.
• May 1940
– Blitzkrieg on Netherlands,
Belgium, Luxembourg.
• France
– Germans mostly go
around Maginot Line
– Advance across northern
France to English Channel.
• Splits British/Northern
French and Southern
French troops.
Fall of France
• Dunkirk
– British/Northern French troops
flee across English Channel
• 340,000 troops
• June 1940
– French gov’t flees Paris,
escapes to London
– Italy declares war on France
– Hitler captures Paris
• Vichy France
– Germany occupies northern
3/5 of France
– Southern France becomes
“Vichy” France
• Support Nazi Regime