Transcript The start of World War Two

The start of World War Two
September 1939 to Spring 1940
Aims of the lesson
In this lesson you will
• Understand what we mean by the term
phoney war and describe the events of
1939 and the spring of 1940
• Evaluate the importance of the defeat of
France and the invasion of Norway on the
course of the war
The phoney war 1939
• By the end of September 1939 Poland had been
defeated and ceased to exist
• Britain and France were able to give the Poles
no help
• From September 1939 to April 1940 little action
in the west – “The phoney war”
• Hitler was aiming to push Britain and France to
the negotiating table and did not have the
resources to attack them in this period
Britain and France prepare
• Britain and France prepared for war –
Britain sent a small force to support the
French – the BEF
• Half hearted – French felt protected by the
Maginot Line – a line of fortifications on
the German border stretching from
Belgium to Switzerland
• Dangerous way of thinking – defeatist
The Maginot Line
Norway 1940
• April 1940 – Germany attacked Norway in
order to get her hands on her iron ore
• Britain considered invading Norway before
but decided against it
• Germany launched a Blitzkrieg against
Norway and she was defeated quickly
• This debacle led to the resignation of
Chamberlain on the 10th May 1940 and
was replaced by Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill
The invasion of France 1940
• Blitzkrieg – lightening war – relied on
speed and surprise to defeat the
opposition
• Used a big attack on a small area in order
to overwhelm the French
• Germans simple went around the Maginot
line – British and French could not
respond to this – spread their forces too
thinly
The fall of France 1940
• 10th may 1940 – Germans attacked
through the Ardennes forest in Belgium
• Holland fell by the 28th May 1940
• British and French taken by surprise and
were in full retreat
• The British got cut off and got trapped in a
small pocket near the town of Dunkirk and
faced being wiped out