Transcript WWII

The European Theater
• Hitler felt that Britain and France would not use military
force to halt his territorial ambitions
• As Hitler looked to expand into Poland, he made an
agreement with Stalin (USSR)
• The Nazi-Soviet Nonaggression Pact- stated that both
nations promised not to attack one another.
• Hitler offered Stalin control
of eastern Poland and the Baltic states
• Hitler planned on breaking his
promises but didn’t want a two
front war at this time
• September 1, 1939- Germany invades Poland
• September 3, 1939- Britain and France declare war on
Germany
• Blitzkrieg- “lightening war”; a swift & sudden military attack
• April 1940- Hitler takes Denmark and Norway
• May 1940- Hitler attacks the Netherlands, Belgium & France
• France signs an armistice on June 22, 1940 with German
armies occupying 3/5 of France
• Vichy France – authoritarian regime under German control
that ruled the remainder of France
• August 1940- Germany’s Luftwaffe
(Air force) launched a major
offensive in Britain targeting naval
basis, harbors, communication centers,
and war industries.
• The invention of radar was helpful to
warn Britain of incoming assaults
though the losses were critical.
• September brought a tactical shift
from Hitler who wanted cities to be
targeted over military bases to kill
moral
• Britain was able to recover militarily
however and the invasion of Britain
was postponed indefinitely.
• Hitler convinced himself that
Britain only remained in the
war because it expected Soviet
support.
• Hitler also felt the Soviet army
was pitiful and could be
conqured quickly.
• Hitler seized Greece and
Yugoslavia in April 1941to
secure his exposed southern
flank
• June 1941- Hitler invaded the
Soviet Union
• With armies advancing in the
Ukraine, besieging Leningrad,
and a third approaching
Moscow the Germans were
halted by the harsh Russian
winter and a fierce Soviet
resistance
• Isolationism- a policy of national isolation
by abstention from alliances and other
international political and economic
relations
• Many Americans felt that the US had been
drawn into WWI due to their economic
involvement and passed many neutrality
acts to prevent the US from becoming
involved in European affairs.
• With Hitler conquering so much of Europe
however, the US supplied food, ships,
plans, and weapons to Britain
• Hitler thought the US
would be ineffective in
the European theater
due to their involvement
in the Pacific.
• Dec. 11, 1941Germany
Declares war on USA
• Another European
conflict had turned into a
global war
• Nov. 1942, British and American
forces invaded French North Africa.
• By May 1943 the German and
Italian troops there had surrendered.
• Stalingrad- Hitler wanted to kill the
moral of the Soviets, over reached
and paid the consequences.
• 100,000 Germans died
• 80,000 captured
• Feb. 1943
• General Eisenhower led the air
and sea attack on Sicily in July
1943
• The Allies were met with little
resistance until Messina
• Conquest of Sicily led to
Mussolini’s downfall
• Mussolini was arrested
• The Fascist Party was dissolved
• Italy surrendered
• Germany occupied Rome
• Mussolini was put back in
control of Northern Italy
• June 4, 1944, Allies entered
Rome
• In 1943, leaders of the
three major Allied
Powers (Churchill—
Britain, Roosevelt--US,
Stalin-- USSR)
met in the Tehran
Conference to discuss
plans for defeating
Germany
• At Tehran, the leaders
planned an amphibious
invasion of Normandy
(occupied by Nazis)
named Operation
Overlord –headed by
supreme allied
commander Dwight D.
Eisenhower
• Roosevelt, Churchill and
Stalin met in February,
1945 at the Yalta
Conference to discuss plans
of dividing up Europe
anticipating the defeat of
Germany
• Germany was divided and
most of Eastern Europe
was controlled by the
Soviet Union
• The Allied leaders met
after the defeat of
Germany in July,1945 at
the Potsdam Conference to
discuss plans for defeating
Japan and its unconditional
surrender
• President Truman (who
succeeded Roosevelt after
his death) learned of the
successful tests of the
Atomic bomb while at the
conference
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August 23, 1939
August 25, 1939
September 1, 1939
September 3, 1939
September 17, 1939
September 27 1939
November 8, 1939
November 30, 1939
April 9–June 9, 1940
May 10, 1940
May 14, 1940
May 26, 1940
May 28, 1940
June 22, 1940
June 10, 1940
June 1941
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July 10–Oct 31, 1940
September 13, 1940
September 27, 1940
November 23, 1940
November 20, 1940
November 22, 1940
January 22, 1941
March 1, 1941
June 22, 1941
December 11–13, 1941
May 27, 1941
January 13, 1942
May 30, 1942
June 28–Sept 1942
August 23, 1942
October 23–24, 1942
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November 23, 1942
February 2, 1943
May 13, 1943
June 4, 1944
July 10, 1943
July 5, 1943
July 24, 1943
July 25, 1943
September 9, 1943
September 13, 1942
February 2, 1943
May 13, 1943
November 6, 1943
January 22, 1944
June 6, 1944
June 13, 1944
August 4, 1944
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August 20, 1944
August 25, 1944
September 12, 1944
December 16, 1944
January 12, 1945
February 13, 1945
February 4-11, 1945
March 7, 1945
April 16, 1945
April 30, 1945
May 7, 1945
May 8, 1945
May 9, 1945
July 1945
November 28-December 1,
1943