Transcript The Beginning of World War II

The Beginning of
World War II
The Gathering Storm
The Invasion of Poland
The Miracle at Dunkirk
Operation Catapult
The Appeasement of Germany –
Austria
• Hitler’s version of the ‘master race’
required that all Germans everywhere
belonged to one united Germany
• In 1938, Hitler and his army marched
into Austria
• They had no way of defending
themselves
• France and Britain did nothing
The Appeasement of Germany –
Czechoslovakia
• The Sudetenland – a rich industrialized
part of the Czechoslovakia was home
to 3 million German-speaking people
• Hitler claimed that they were being
oppressed and threatened to occupy
the territory
• France, Britain and Russia promised to
stand by the Czech people
The Appeasement of Germany The Munich Conference
• This led to the Munich conference
where the leaders of France, Britain,
Germany, Italy and Canada met in
Munich, Germany
• The leaders gave into Hitler’s demands
hoping to avoid another war
• Within months, the German army
took over the rest of Czechoslovakia
The Appeasement of Germany –
Turning Towards Poland
• Hitler now demanded the Germanspeaking parts of Poland
• The leaders of Britain and France drew
the line in the sand and guaranteed
Poland’s Borders
• The USSR was not confident that France
and Britain would carry through with their
threat so they signed a Non-Aggression
pact with Germany
• The stage was now set for World War II
Canada and the Build-up to War
• Most Canadians were not interested in
fighting another war after the horrors of
World War I and the Great Depression
• Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie
King did not see Hitler as a threat to world
peace and respected his leadership
• When the Canadian ambassador spoke out
against the war in Manchuria, the Canadian
government made it clear that he did not
speak on behalf of the government
The Spark – The Invasion of Poland
• On September 1, 1939, German tanks
thundered across the Polish border
and bombers flattened Warsaw
• On September 3, 1939, France and
Britain declared war against Germany.
• One week later, on September 10,
1939 the Canadian Parliament voted to
declare war on Germany
Canada’s First Casualty
• The first Canadian casualty of World
War II was a 10-year-old girl from
Hamilton, Ontario named Margaret
Hayworth
• She was killed when a German
submarine torpedoed the Athena, an
unnamed passenger ship on the first
day of the war
• Her state funeral encouraged people to
fight.
Poland Falls to the Nazis
• The Nazis crushed Poland in less than
a month
• The Polish forces collapsed under the
relentless attack by German tanks and
Stuka dive-bombers
• This new way of fighting became
known as blitzkrieg or lightning war
• Poland surrendered on October 19,
1939
Sitzkrieg
• After the fall of Poland came a period
known as ‘sitzkrieg’ or a phoney war
where there was a lull in the fighting
• During this time, the allies scrambled
to assemble their troops to prevent
Hitler from advancing further through
Europe
• Germany used the time to move their
troops from defeated Poland to the
rest of Europe
Hitler Becomes Master of Europe
• Germany broke the lull in the fighting in
the spring of 1940
• They conquered the following countries
very quickly using the blitzkrieg technique;
• Denmark – 1 day
• Norway – 2 days
• The Netherlands – 5 days
• Belgium – 18 days
• France – 6 weeks
The Miracle at Dunkirk
• When the advancing German
armies came south into France
from the Netherlands, they pinned
the retreating French and British
troops along the English Channel
near the port of Dunkirk
• The British Navy was deployed in
other areas of the war and couldn’t
make it in time to rescue the troops
The Miracle at Dunkirk
• Instead, English fisherman, weekend
pleasure sailors and ferry captains took
their boats across the channel to rescue the
soldiers
• They brought back soldiers in canal boats,
river tugs, rowboats, empty coal barges and
yachts
• They saved over 350,000 soldiers (10 times
the number originally hoped for)
• The Germans were unable to get there in
time to prevent this heroic rescue
Britain Stands Alone
• Britain was now left without any allies
against the Germans
• The new Prime Minister, Winston
Churchill promised the British people
nothing but “blood, toil, tears and
sweat.”
• It seemed like the war would soon be
over as the German army prepared to
invade England
Canadian Aid
• In Halifax, Nova Scotia, ships were
preparing to travel in convoys
across the Atlantic Ocean
• They carried food, weapons and
soldiers to help protect England
against invasion from Germany
Operation Catapult
• After the Fall of France, Britain worried
that if the French Navy fell into German
hands, it would be used to help defeat
Great Britain
• They demanded that the French dock their
ships in allied ports or sink them to
prevent this from happening
• When the French failed to do so, the
British Navy bombarded the French Navy
at its base at Mers-el-Kébir on July 3, 1940
Operation Catapult
• Although they had received warning, the
French fleet was not expecting the British
to carry through with the attack
• Although French Admiral François Darlan
had assured Winston Churchill the fleet
would not fall into German possession,
the British were not willing to take the risk
of this happening
• The attack resulted in the deaths of 1,297
French servicemen, the sinking of a
battleship and the damaging of five other
ships
The Aftermath of Operation Catapult
• In response to the British attack at Mers-elKébir and another at Dakar, the French
mounted air raids on Gibraltar
• The Vichy government also severed
diplomatic relations with the United
Kingdom
• The attack created animosity between France
and Britain, but it also demonstrated to the
world and to the United States in particular,
Britain's commitment to continue the war
with Germany at all costs and without allies
if need be