Transcript Slide 1 - Cloudfront.net

Japan Invades China long
Before the War
Italy Invades Ethiopia
Italy, Germany, and Japan
form the Axis Powers
There is Civil War in Spain
Stalin and Hitler Signed a
Nonaggression Pact
I can just eat my ice
cream in peace
since we all agreed
to never go to war.
Gee, things are
sure swell here in
Europe.
I want to raise an
army and take
back the
Rhineland.
Well, we don’t want to make him mad, so I guess that is okay.
But after the Rhineland he can’t have anymore...
The Policy of Appeasement
• Major European powers wish to avoid another
war
• March 1936, German troops enter the
Rhineland
• March 1938, Hitler annexed Austria (Anschluss)
SWEET!
Now give me the
Sudetenland in
Czechoslovakia and
Poland and whatever
else I want!
The Policy of Appeasement
• In September 1938, Hitler demanded that
Czechoslovakia give him a German
speaking region called the Sudetenland
• World leaders at the Munich Conference
allowed Hitler to take the Sudetenland
after promises that he would stop there
• Six months later Hitler conquered the rest
of Czechoslovakia
• Hitler then demanded that land be
returned from Poland
Um, guys?
Have you
been noticing
a trend here?
I mean you’re
going to do
something
about this,
right?
He signed a
nonaggression
pact with
Stalin. You
know what that
means right?
Please say
you have my
back in this.
What are you
gonna do? Sob
me to death with
stories of how
you don’t want
another war?
I’m calling your
bluff.
The War Begins
• September 1st, 1939 - Hitler launches a
surprise attack against Poland
• September 3rd, 1939 – Britain and France
declare war on Germany
• Poland was conquered in three weeks
thanks to Hitler’s new military strategy,
Blitzkrieg (lightning war)
The War Begins
• September 17th, 1939 – Stalin sends
troops to conquer East Poland
• Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania soon fall to
the Soviet Union
• November 1939, Stalin sent nearly 1
million troops into Finland
• And then nothing else happened for seven
months (Phony War)
Is there something
I’m missing here?
Can’t my planes fly
right over this
thing? Why don’t I
just go around this
thing? Hmmm.
The Fall of France
• May 1940, Hitler launches a surprise
attack taking Denmark, Norway, Belgium,
Holland, and Luxembourg in two months
• Hitler squeezed through the Maginot Line
in the north and took direct control over
northern France
• Allied forces were backed into the city of
Dunkirk, where the British pulled off a
heroic rescue
Look at the
Allies run.
I never
really liked
the French.
You cool if I
join the war?
Heck yeah.
Let’s finish
off France.
OMG! We’re all
gonna die!
Yeah, it’s time for some
tactical thinking. I’m a war
hero and a prominent head
of state. I’m sure Hitler
would be willing to meet
with me and talk this out
logically…even if I’m
French. And when I gain
this audience, I will unveil
our secret strategy…
So…what do you want?
We surrender.
That’s right you do. So here’s how this works. I own you
now. Germany is taking most of your country. But as long
as you cooperate, I’ll allow France to continue to exist. You
can even be in charge. How does that sound?
This is a really big deal. Philippe Petain is
still considered to be one of the worst
traitors/collaborators in modern history. He
is working with the Nazis to gain power,
however he is also keeping his people alive.
At the time, the French are very torn. Some
support the idea of Vichy France. Others
create resistance movements to fight off the
Germans whenever possible.
Remember, the majority of the French military actually
escaped to England and is waiting there…so the French still
have an army, they just don’t have a country.
But, there are two Frances now. Vichy France, which exists
as a puppet government of the Nazis, and “Free France” the
“government” that the remaining French military will fight for.
This also means that there are two leaders of France.
Philippe Petain has been put in charge of Vichy France by
the Nazis. The highest ranking officer of the remaining
French forces, General Charles de Gaulle, is in Britain
rallying the anti-Nazi movement: The French Resistance!
Remember, the majority of the French military actually
escaped to England and is waiting there…so the French still
have an army, they just don’t have a country.
But, there are two Frances now. Vichy France, which exists
as a puppet government of the Nazis, and “Free France” the
“government” that the remaining French military will fight for.
This also means that there are two leaders of France.
Philippe Petain has been put in charge of Vichy France by
the Nazis. The highest ranking officer of the remaining
French forces, General Charles de Gaulle, is in Britain
rallying the anti-Nazi movement: The French Resistance!
“It is the obligatory duty of all
Frenchmen who still bear arms
to continue the struggle. For
them to lay down their arms, to
evacuate any position of military
importance, or agree to hand
over any part of French territory,
however small, to enemy
control would be a crime
against our country.”
Charles de Gaulle gave
frequent radio addresses and
became a very popular hero to
the French Resistance!
But all of de
Gaulle's tough
talk doesn’t
change the fact
that the Axis
Powers now
control almost
all of Europe.
The Fall of France
• Italy and Germany beat France into a
surrender – June 22, 1940
• Southern France left as a puppet
government (Vichy France)
• A French general named Charles de
Gaulle fled to Britain and set up a
government in exile (Free France)