(1933)Adolf Hitler announced that he would rearm the country.
He also took Germany out of the League of Nations. (1936)German
troops marched into the Rhineland. Rome-Berlin Axis- In October
1936, Hitler and Mussolini created an alliance known as the
Rome-Berlin Axis.
Slide 3
Shortly after the Axis Powers were formed, Japan and Germany
promised to work together. They signed an agreement called the
Anti-Comintern Pact, pledging to stop the spread of communism (on
paper).
Slide 4
(March 1938)Hitler declared Austria to be part of the Third
Reich, which was a direct violation of the Treaty of Versailles. No
union between Austria and Germany was to be permitted. Great
Britain and France sent protests to Hitler, but he ignored them.
The League of Nations took no action.
Slide 5
More than 3 million Germans lived in the Sudetenland, a region
around the western rim of Czechoslovakia.
Slide 6
Many Germans living in this area wanted a union with Germany.
As a result, the Nazi Party grew in strength there. September
1938-Riots broke out and Czechoslovakia placed the region under
martial law. Hitler then announced he would invade and annex the
Sudetenland to protect fellow Germans.
Slide 7
(September 1938) Hitler invited British prime minister Neville
Chamberlain and French premier Edouard Daladier to meet with him in
Munich (Mussolini was also present). The meeting was designed to
ease tensions in Europe.
Slide 8
Chamberlain and Daladier accepted Hitlers demand that the
Sudetenland be joined with Germany. Britain and France feared
Germanys military strength and were presently suffering through an
economic depression. Appeasement- The policy of trying to keep the
peace by accepting some of the demands of the aggressor.
Slide 9
Germany began to occupy the Sudetenland. Abandoned by its
allies, Czechoslovakia was left defenseless. The U.S. also tried to
avoid the conflict. (March 1939)German troops invaded
Czechoslovakia, six months later it was wiped off the map. (April
1939)Mussolini invaded Albania. The League of Nations failed to be
effective.
Slide 10
Slide 11
After Hitler took over Czechoslovakia, British and French
leaders could no longer ignore the fascist dictators. Britain and
France began preparing for war. Nazi-Soviet Pact (German-Soviet
Nonaggression Pact)-This agreement publicly stated that Germany and
the Soviet Union would not attack each other. Each would remain
neutral if the other went to war.
Slide 12
Secretly, Hitler and Stalin had agreed to divide eastern Europe
into spheres of influence. Germany was to take western Poland,
while the Soviet Union was to have a free hand in the Baltic
countries of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, as well as eastern
Poland. The Western nations had lost a possible ally in the East,
while Germany had arranged for the Soviet Union to be neutral.
Slide 13
Danzig was a free city protected by the League of Nations.
Poland and Germany both had rights to use the port of Danzig. A
strip of land about 90 miles long and 55 miles wide, (Polish
Corridor) this territory allowed Poland access to the port of
Danzig (formally part of Germany prior to WWI).
Slide 14
Slide 15
Hitler announced the annexation of Danzig to the German Reich.
At the same time, his air force began a massive attack on Poland.
Nazi tanks sped across the border and swiftly drove toward Warsaw
and the Polish heartland. Two days later Great Britain and France
kept their promises to Poland and declared war on Germany.
Slide 16
Slide 17
Blitzkrieg- lighting war (Hitlers invasion of Poland) Europes
Reaction British forces landed on the northern coast of France and
blockaded Germanys ports. French forces fortified the Maginot line.
The Allies increased troop movement and arms production, but were
relatively weak against Nazi Germany.
Slide 18
Slide 19
Slide 20
The French army expected stationary battles (like in World War
I). However, German planes bombed and machine-gunned civilians who
tried to escape the attack on France.
Slide 21
June 14, 1940-Germans entered Paris and the French armed
resistance fell, causing the cabinet to resign German troops were
to occupy northern France and a strip of territory along the coast,
extending into Spain. The French navy was to be disabled as
well.
Slide 22
Slide 23
The French who continued to fight the Germans formed the Free
French Government. The organization set up headquarters in London
and the United States. Headed by General Charles de Gaulle
Slide 24
The Luftwaffe (German Air Force) tried to soften up Britain for
an invasion. During September 1940 and May 1941 fighting continued
between the Luftwaffe and the RAF (Royal Air Force). 43,000 British
civilians died in nighttime air raids.
Slide 25
Germany was unable to win the Battle of Britain. However,
Germany still continued to blockade British trade. There was still
a chance that Britain could be starved into surrendering (war of
attrition).
Slide 26
Neutrality Acts- passed between 1935 and 1937, the United
States had stated its wish to remain neutral in future wars 1)
Americans could not sell war equipment to warring nations or sail
on their ships. 2) American ships were restricted from entering war
zones.
Slide 27
Many people worried that Nazi Germany would destroy not only
Europe, but also civilization itself. On the other hand, most
Americans believed that Europes wars should not concern the United
States. Their opinion began to change as fears grew that the Nazis
could potentially take over the world.
Slide 28
1939-A revised Neutrality Act allowed American firms to sell
munitions to warring nations on a cash-and-carry basis. Great
Britain still controlled sea routes between the U.S. and Britain,
therefore the effect of this law was to allow the sale of arms only
to Great Britain.
Slide 29
September 1940 FDR moved 50 old American warships to Great
Britain. Congress passed the first national draft law in the United
States during peacetime March 1941 Congress passed the Lend-Lease
Act, allowing the president to supply war materials to Great
Britain on credit.
Slide 30
In August 1941, Roosevelt and Churchill met aboard a British
battle ship off the coast of Newfoundland (Canada). They created a
statement of British and U.S. democratic goals.
