Chapters 24 – 25

World War II
Chapter 24, sec. 2
War in Europe
 Austria and Czechoslovakia Fall
 Hitler’s dream of “lebensraum” for Germany
meant that Germany would need to takeover
lands nearest to Germany – Austria and
Czechoslovakia – Hitler was prepared to go to
war to accomplish this goal
 Union with Austria
 In Feb., 1938, Hitler invited the Austrian
Chancellor, Kurt von Schuschnigg, to a meeting
– Hitler used intimidation to force Schuschnigg
to sign an agreement which would allow Nazis
to become part of the Austrian government –
when the Austrian Chancellor returned home he
backed out of the agreement with Hitler
 The Anschluss
 When Hitler learned that Schuschnigg
had backed out of their agreement he
became furious – on March 12, 1938
Hitler sent German troops into Austria –
Schuschnigg was forced to resign and the
Anschluss (union between Germany and
Austria) was declared – Hitler had seized
a sovereign nation and the rest of the
world did nothing
 Bargaining for the Sudetenland
 Hitler now turned his attention to
Czechoalovakia
 Following WWI the Sudetenland region
(inhabited by 3 million German speaking
people) was joined with Czechoslovakia –
Hitler accused the Czech government of
mistreating the Germans and began
moving German troops to the German-
Czech border – both Great Britain and
France promised to protect
Czechoslovakia – Hitler invited the British
and French to a meeting in Munich,
 The Munich Pact
 Neville Chamberlain (G.B.) and Edouard
Daladier (Fr.) met with Hitler (the Czech
government was not present) - Hitler assured
them that the Sudetenland would be his “last
territorial demand” – Chamberlain and Daladier,
hoping to avoid war, agreed and signed the
Munich Pact - allowed the German takeover of
the Sudetenland without firing a shot
 Chamberlain returned home to declare that he
had achieved “peace in our time” – not
everyone agreed – Winston Churchill declared
that the Munich Pact was a policy of
appeasement, giving in to Hitler - “Britain and
France had to choose between war and
 The German Offensive Begins
 Hitler had no intention of honoring his promise
made in Munich – on March 15, 1939 German
troops took control of all of Czechoslovakia –
“Czechoslovakia has ceased to exist” – Hitler
now turned his attention towards Poland
 The Soviet Union Declares Neutrality
 Poland was another country created after WWI
that held large numbers of German speaking
people – Hitler again accused the Polish
government of mistreating Germans – many
people thought that Hitler would hesitate
invading Poland because he feared a war with
the Soviet Union and possibly France and Great
 Nazi -Soviet Non-Aggression Pact
 As tensions rose over the crisis in Poland,
Joseph Stalin decided it would be better
to make peace with Hitler (even though
Stalin hated the Nazis) before a war
broke out – On August 23, 1939 Stalin
and Hitler agreed to a non-aggression
pact – they agreed not to fight each other
and that they would divide Poland
between them – Poland was doomed
 Blitzkriegin Poland
 Sept. 1, 1939 – German forces crossed
the border into Poland – German planes,
tanks, and infantry used a new form of
warfare – “blitzkrieg” (lightning war) – the
German forces struck quickly using a
mechanized army to crush the outdated
Polish army – on Sept. 3, 1939 Great
Britain and France declared war on
Germany – World War II had begun
 The Phony War
 For the next few months an uneasy peace existed
in Europe – even though war had been declared ,
no fighting was occurring between Great Britain
and France and Germany – French and British
troops sat along the Maginot Line (a line of
defensive fortifications in France, while the
Germans sat on the Siegfried Line in Germany –
this period of wait-and-see was called the
Sitzkrieg (the phony war)
 In late 1939, the period of peace was finally
broken in the east when Stalin invaded the Baltic
nations (Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, & Finland) that
had been created from Soviet territory after WWI
– Finland put up stubborn resistance but
eventually surrendered to the Soviets
 In April, 1940, Hitler launched an invasion of
Denmark, and Norway – by the end of May, 1940,
German forces had overrun Luxembourg, The
Netherlands, and Belgium
 France and Great Britain Fight On
 As war spread throughout western Europe, only
France and Great Britain stood against Hitler –
with the German invasion of Belgium, the
German forces could now bypass the French
defenses along the Maginot Line – to counter
the German advances the French and British
sent troops into Belgium – the Germans
responded by attacking with tanks and planes
 Outnumbered and outgunned, the French and
British forces retreated to the beaches at
Dunkirk – although surrounded, over 330,000
French and British soldiers were rescued by a
fleet of every type of boat that could cross the
English Channel to rescue Allied troops
 The Fall of France
 Following the evacuation at Dunkirk,
France was left defenseless – Italy now
declared war on France and invaded
France from the South as the Germans
moved in from the north – on June 21, 1940
France officially surrendered to Germany –
Germany would occupy the northern parts
of France (including Paris) while, Vichy, a
puppet government (controlled by the
Nazis) would be set up in the south –
French general Charles DeGaulle fled to
England and vowed to return to liberate
France (it would take 4 years)
 The Battle of Britain
 After the fall of France, only Great Britain
remained to stand against Hitler – as Germany
prepared a naval assault against Great Britain,
they launched bombing raids against British
cities – every night for 2 months German
bombers (Luftwaffe) dropped thousands of
bombs killing thousands of British civilians
 Great Britain fought back by sending British
fighter planes (Royal Air Force – RAF) up
against the Germans – with the help of a new
invention, radar, the British were able to stop
the German bombing raids – Winston Churchill
(now Prime Minister) praised the RAF pilots –
“Never in the field of human conflict, was so