Download European Theatre

 1936
Hitler took over Rhineland (violating the
Treaty of Versailles), annexes Austria and part of
Czechoslovakia
 Other countries practice policy of
“Appeasement”: they try to ignore and give in
to Hitler in order to avoid war
 Japan, Germany, and Italy UNITE to form AXIS
POWERS
 Soviet Union (Russia), USA, and Great Britain
would make up the ALLIED POWERS
 September
1, 1939 Hitler invaded Poland,
beginning the war
 US was still neutral, but passed the LendLease Act: President could send aid to any
nation whose defense was considered vital to
the US
 The
lend-lease program allowed the U.S. to
send weapons to Britain, if Britain promised to
pay rent or return them after the war.
 April
1, 1933 Boycott of Jewish Stores
 April
7, 1933 – passes laws that state Jews
cannot work for the government or be in
the army
 September
1935 – Nuremberg Race Laws
• Established who was “Jewish”
• Took citizenship away from Jewish people
 Into
the 1940s- “Final Solution” leads to
concentration camps and extermination
camps
 Jews
were considered
socially inferior and unfit
to live by the Nazi party
 Hitler’s “Final
Solution” to
the “Jewish Problem” was
mass genocide
(systematic killing of a
race of people)
 Roughly
6 Million Jews
died during this episode
in history known as the
HOLOCAUST
 By
1944, the Allies had control over
European skies and began to plan a land
invasion of Axis controlled Europe
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPA6kRuhKks ---Saving Private Ryan D-Day Clip
 The
Allies chose to attack the Germans in France
on the coast of Normandy
 100,000 soldiers and 23,000 paratroopers
participated in the attack
The invasion of
France caught the
Germans by
surprise.
Looking at the
map, where do
you think the
Germans thought
the invasion
would land? Why?
http://www.history.com/shows/wwii-in-hd/videos/d-days#d-days
 Though
the D-Day invasion caught the Germans by
surprise, heavy American casualties occurred at
Omaha Beach
 The invasion was the turning point of the war in
Europe: within two months the Allies had over a
million troops in France


As American, British and
Russian armies began to
close in on Berlin, Hitler,
the leader of Germany,
committed suicide
Within a week the
German army
surrendered, ending the
war in Europe (known as
V-E Day)