Transcript European War Lecture

WWII: European War
1939-1942
World Crisis
• The depression challenges democracy
Fascism
• Extreme form of government
• Promised to revive economy, punish
those responsible, and restore national
pride
Fascist Italy
• Benito Mussolini
• Promised a revived economy and
strong Military
Fascist Germany
• Adolf Hitler
• Brings order and security
Nazi Ideology
• Pure “Aryan” or German Race
• Revenge of the Treaty of Versailles
• Lebensraum- Germany over crowed
needed more living space.
Italy Invades Africa
• Mussolini Attacks Ethiopia
• Avenge losses in 1890
• League of Nations remain silent
Germany Invades
• Hitler enters the Rhineland
• Formed a buffer between France and
Germany
Appeasement
• France stunned-unwilling to risk war!
• Britain urged appeasement- giving in to
an aggressor (Hitler) to keep peace
Axis Powers
• 1936
• Hitlers growing power convinced Italy to
form an alliance
• Germany, Japan, Italy
Spain’s Civil War
• Democracy Fails
• Fascist Dictator Francisco Franco wins
Germany Expands
• 1938, Hitler ignores Treaty of Versailles
• Absorbs Austria into Germany
Munich Conference
• Hitler demands the Sudetenland
(Czechoslovakia)
• British Prime Minister Neville
Chamberlain gives into demands
Nonaggression
pact
• Russian (communist) and Germany
(fascist)
• 10 year agreement never to attack each
other
• They would divide Poland between them
Blitzkrieg
• Germany’s Military Strategy
• Fast-moving airplanes and tanks
followed by massive infantry forces
• Take enemy defenders by surprise
The Phony War
• Britain and France declare war
• Mobilize Armies along the Maginot Line
• Wait for Germans to attack
Invasion of France
• Germans attack through the Ardennes
Rescue of Dunkirk
• Allied forces trapped in northern France
• Heroic act of Rescue
• 800 boats that took 2 months
France Falls
• June 22, 1940 France Surrenders
• Charles de Gaulle: government-in-exile
Battle of Britain
• Germany attacks Great Britain’s Air
Force (RAF)
• Then focused on cities to break moral
Technology
• Radar-electronic tracking device
• Enigma- German code-making machine
• Both essential to Britain’s victory
Africa
• Italy invades North Africa (oil rich)
• Britain Fights back
• Germany helps Italy
• Erwin Rommel- know as “Desert Fox”
Balkans
• Hitler takes control of south eastern
Europe
• Prepares for invasion of Russia
Invasion of Russia
• “Operation Barbarossa”
• Russia military not prepared
• Germany advances quickly (500 miles)
Leningrad
• City cut off from Russia
• Hitler tries to starve the city of 2.5 million
• City refuses to fall (Winter 1941-1942)
United States
• Neutrality Act
• 1941 Lend-Lease Act with Britain