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The Austrian Anschluss
Hitler wanted any Germans living in Austria and Czechoslovakia to be unified. In February of 1938 he then threatened to invade Austria if the Nazi’s weren't given the job of “government posts”. The chancellor gave in on Hitler’s demand bu then tried to be sneaky and put a democratic vote to whether or not they should unify with Germany. Hitler didn't know what the outcome would be so he ordered troops into Austria in March and publicized the unification of Germany and Austria. -
The Munich Crisis
Hitler then decided that Germany would claim Sudetenland. Sudetenland was an area in Czechoslovakia that spoke German.The Representatives of Italy, Britain, France & Germany met at the Munich Conference to discuss the "fate" of Czechoslovakia on September 29,1938.Hitler's demands became known as appeasements. Czechoslovakia could either give up the land or fight Germany alone.March 1939, German troops were sent in to divide the country and Slovakia was independent under the control of Germany. -
Hitler Demands Danzig
Under Hitler's control, he demanded that Danzig were to go back under the control of Germany. He also wanted a railroad and highway that would go across the Polish Corridor(area that separated Germany from the German state of East Prussia).Poland declined Hitler's request when Britain said they would aid them had they ever gotten into war with Germany. He told Germany to prepare to invade Poland. But besides fighting Britain and France he didn't want to fight the Soviet's as well. -
The Nazi-Soviet Pact
Stalin believed that turning the capitalist nations against each other would be the best way to protect the USSR. Depending on if it worked, then Germany would go to war with Britain and France.The Nazi-Soviet Pact was signed on August 23, 1939 by Germany and the USSR. At the time nobody knew that it was also a deal to divide Poland between The Soviet Union. The belief was that communism and Nazism were supposed to oppose each other. Hitler signed the deal so that he was free of war. -
The Invasion of Poland
On September 1,1939 World War II had begun when Germany invaded Poland and Britain and France declared war on Germany. The Polish army didn't have as much weapons as the Germans did. They rode on horses and had lances to use against German tanks. But the Germans used a new warfare called the blitzkrieg. They were large tanks that they used to break through encircled enemy positions. The Polish weren't able to repulse the attack. Which lead to the Germans to defeat the Polish on October 5,1939. -
The Evacuation of Dunkirk
It began with Hitler ordering the Germans to stop closing in on Dunkirk. It gave the British a 3 day delay to begin their evacuation. Operation Dynamo” was the joining of Belgian French and Dutch ships with British ships. After evacuating Dunkirk majority of the British army supplies remained at Dunkirk, including 90,000 rifles 7,000 tons of ammunition and 120,000 vehicles. The evacuation ended on June 4 and a little after that Germany had occupied most of France and its Atlantic coastline. -
The Fall of France
When World War I started, the French used a Maginot line as a shield for when the Germans arrived. But it didn't do them much justice. The Germans were able to go around the line that had protected France's border with Germany but not with Belgium. But it didn't go as planned. The Germans main force went through the Ardennes Mountains into eastern Belgium and Luxembourg. The French and British armies were trapped in Belgium due to not being able to get back into France quickly enough. -
The Battle of Britain
The Battle of Britain was a air battle that lasted into the fall of 1940. Hitler’s main goal was to terrorize the British until they surrendered. But the British always took coverage whenever the Germans appeared. The British outnumbered the Royal Air Force by using new technology called radar. The British used it to their advantage so they would know whenever German aircrafts were coming. After Churchill’s words, Hitler decided to cancel the invasion of Britain on October 12, 1940.
