Transcript Blitzkrieg – ‘lightning war’

Nazi Expansion
and the Start of WWII
Treaty Of Versailles – Effect on
Germany (BRAT)
 Blame
for WWI
 Reparations created economic
hardship
 Allowed very small Defensive Army
 No
 Lost
weapons development!
Territory (Alsace and Lorraine,
area to the east etc.)
How did Hitler Violate the
Treaty?



1. Stopped
Reparations payments
in the Depression.
2. Built a New Army
– in secret
Developed new
Weapons (in secret)



The R.A.D. – See film
example.
Tanks = “Tractors”
Airplanes = “Gliders”
1937
The Search for “Lebensraum”

Lebensraum = Room to live!

Hitler felt that “'... in order to
remain healthy, species must continually
expand the amount of space they occupy ...‘”
–from Mein Kampf

Called for the Germanic people of the world
to unite, and that they needed territory in
which to live.
Lebensraum - Anschluss
 Hitler
called for unification of German
speaking people!
 Annexed
Austria - Anschluss =
Unification
 Europe agreed, since Austria was very
much like Germany.
 Austria
was Hitler’s home.
September 1938
From Anschluss to Appeasement
Hitler demanded the Sudetenland.
 Sudetenland = Mostly German speaking
area of Czechoslovakia.


Czechs resisted.
Representative of Britain, France, Italy, and
Germany met in Munich Conference.
 Agreed to give Germany the Sudetenland
in exchange for peace

October 1938
Danzig and the Polish Corridor
 Hitler
demanded Danzig back –
port city – Lost during World War I
 Demanded
the “Polish Corridor”
– between Ger. and E. Prussia
 The world sat back and appeased
Hitler.

Demanded
Territory
back!
The Nazi-Soviet Pact
 Germany
and Russia made a Nonaggression pact – not an alliance.
 Neither side would attack the other.
Secret Perks of the
Agreement
blocked the Soviets from entering a
war against Germany,
 and split Poland between the two
countries.

Poland – Result of Pact
Adolf Hitler had been a
soldier in WWI. He
thought carefully about the
reasons why Germany had
lost that war. What ideas do
you think he came up with?
Hitler learned lessons from
WWI

Avoid “Two Front” War


How?
Avoid trench warfare
“War of Attrition”
 How?

 New
Tactics
 Used latest military
technology – airplane,
tank, new weaponry
Blitzkrieg – ‘lightning
war’
Why was Blitzkrieg so successful?
“Blitz” in Football?
How did Blitzkrieg work?


Luftwaffe (Air force) attacked airfields etc
Parachutists dropped behind enemy



Capture bridges, HQs, Cause Chaos,
Dive bombers, tanks & motorized infantry
attack main points.
(Lastly) Infantry occupied and secured
captured areas.
How did the Nazis use Blitzkrieg
across Europe?
Poland
1 Sept. 1939, Germany invaded Poland
 Polish outgunned (1 tank brigade and
horses against 11 German, 210 aircraft
against 850 German)
 GB & Fr enter war 3 September 1939

How did the Nazis use Blitzkrieg in
Europe?
France, Belgium & Holland
 May
1940, Nazis attack western
Europe
 By-passed French Maginot Line
 Panzer
divisions attacked through
Ardennes Forest, S. Belgium
 French
& BEF forced to retreat to
coast -Dunkirk
Why were these strategies so
successful?


Maginot Line – why do you think the French placed
so much trust in this line of defences?
Element of surprise
– Allies expected
‘war of attrition’
similar to WWI
French placed too
much trust in
defences, e.g.
Maginot Line
Hitler looks to England!
 Battle
of Britain – RAF (Royal Air
Force) defends England against the
Luftwaffe. – The “Blitz” puts England
under almost constant attacks for 6
months or more.
Canceled Invasion


Operation Sea Lion – cancelled invasion
of England.
German breaks Nazi-Soviet Pact instead!

Shift of focus to East – more to come in
Chapter 14.