Transcript The Early War in Europe

 33’ Germany withdraws League of nation
 35’ Remilitarizes Germany
 36’ Troops to Rhineland
 38’ “Anschluss” – Germany/Austria combine
AGAIN
 38’ Munich Agreement – Hitler gets portion
of Czechoslovakia known as “Sudetenland”
 39’ Non Aggression Pact – USSR/Germany
 September 1, 1939: Germany
invades Poland from the west
 USSR invades Poland from the
east
 Poland is divided between
Germany and the USSR
 September 3, 1939: England and
France declare war on Germany
 WWII Begins….
 Blitzkrieg – “lightning war”
 Short campaigns so the war is
quick & has less casualties
1. Huge offensive attack (planes,
tanks, artillery)
2. Push through enemy lines
 Enemy is now
shocked/disorganized
 Cannot resupply bc air
dominance
3. Encircle enemy who now
must surrender
 Poland captured in 4 weeks
 Norway captured in 4 weeks
 Netherlands captured in 5
weeks
 Belgium captured in 3 weeks
 English blockade of Germany
 The “Phony War”, Sept 1939-April
1940
 England and France place troops all
along French border & engage in a
“sitzkrieg”
 form Maginot line
 England and France dropped
leaflets into Germany
 “truth raids”
 Allies refused to negotiate
and accept Hitler’s conquests
 Hitler’s Plan: attack France,
England completely isolated
and would have to accept his
conquests
 June 25, 1940: France
officially falls to Hitler
 North controlled directly
 South “puppet” government
 “Vichy” France
 June 10, 1940 Italy declares
war on England and France
 Wants to recreate Holy
Roman Empire in
Mediterranean (upset by
Treaty of Versailles)
 Opportunistic
 Summer 1940: German Luftwaffe
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(air force) starts bombing England
Bomb London
British RAF (Royal Air Force) used
radar to stop German attacks
Hitler scraps the invasion
Germany’s first real defeat
 USSR takes control East
Poland
 USSR quickly takes
Baltic States: Estonia,
Latvia, Lithuania
 Attempt and fail to take
Finland
 Allied: France, Great Britain,
 Axis: Italy, Germany, Russia
 http://users.erols.com/mwhite28/axis.htm
 THIS WILL CHANGE IN 1941!!!
 German’s retreat to focus on Soviet
Union
 What about that agreement?
 "What India was for England the territories
of Russia will be for us... The German
colonists ought to live on handsome,
spacious farms. The German services will be
lodged in marvellous buildings, the
governors in palaces... The Germans - this is
essential - will have to constitute amongst
themselves a closed society, like a fortress.
The least of our stable-lads will be superior
to any native."
 May 15, 1941: Operation Barbossa
 Russia now switched sides!
 N, Leningrad; C, Moscow, S, Kiev
 SS to kill all Communists, “total
disregard for human life”
 So arrogant only gave summer gear
 Initially Germany devastated Russia
 Siege of Leningrad “vanish from the surface
of the earth”
 Dec 5, 1941-1942 winter, Germany came to a
frozen halt
 Cold and lack of supplies (size of Russia)
 Scorch earth policy
 Summer 1942; Stalingrad
 Lacked oil, clothes, munitions: surrendered
Feb 2, 1943
 At least 27 million soviets died
 http://www.learningcurve.gov.uk/worldwar2/theatres-
of-war/atlantic/1939/
 http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/19
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